The Returning of Power
by Silverwing7500
Summary: Sequel to The Royal War. The Royal Knights and the DragonForce Army is in a panic after Equistedramon and his counterpart fell through a Digital Gate. Meanwhile, a young man wakes up without a clue of where or who he his, but he soon discovers that he has the power of an unknown Dragon Digimon! Is he really Equistedramon? Meanwhile, DarkEquistedramon is plotting behind the scenes!
1. Part One: Power Reborn

The Returning of Power

Part 1

Power Reborn

 _Roxas Delts. So that's what my name is._ Roxas thought as he continued to examine the ID card he had found in a wallet that was in his back pocket. The picture showed him to have spiky, black hair that grew all the way down the back of his neck. His eyes, oddly, were black instead of white, and his irises were a solid, golden yellow. The personal information next to the picture said that he was eighteen years old, born on July 8th, 1997. However, the area where his address would normally be was blank.

Tearing his eyes away from the ID card, Roxas began to take a look at himself. He was wearing blue jeans and a pair of blue, white, and grey sneakers. Covering his upper body was a plain red Tee-shirt with a black dragon symbol over his sternum, on top of which was an unbuttoned purple, red, and white flannel long sleeve shirt. Hanging from his neck on a white string was a clear, pinkish crystal cut into an eight-sided column, the bottom end tapered to a point, with metal wrapped around it in a screw-like spiral, and on his right wrist was a brown leather wristband with the word, "Dragon," stamped across it. On his right ring finger was a silver ring with a large red gem set into it, which could possibly be a ruby.

Roxas then looked around to take in his surroundings. He was on a park bench in a park, with the blue ocean on one side, and a city skyline on the other. The sky was clear and the sun was shining directly overhead.

 _Okay, don't panic._ Roxas told himself as he began to assess the situation. He was in a place that he didn't recognize, and he had no memories of how he got there and who he was. _If I take time to take things slowly, I'm sure that I'll be able to figure out what in the world is going on right know._

"Hey, there," a voice spoke up. Roxas looked up to see a tanned man with brown hair and brown eyes. He was tall and had a kind looking face. From the way he was dressed and panting for breath, Roxas deduced that he was out on a morning jog.

"Hello, there," Roxas greeted, rising to his feet. To his own surprise, he stood as tall as the man in front of him. The man stared at Roxas's face as if Roxas was some sort of abnormal being.

"What's wrong?" Roxas queried.

The man shook his head roughly. "Nothing… it's just… your eyes. I've never seen anyone with black eyes and such brilliant yellow irises. It's a little disturbing, to be honest."

"Oh, sorry about that," Roxas apologized, avoiding the man's eyes. "I guess that's just the way I am."

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," the man said apologetically. "That was very rude of me just now. Anyways, are you new around here? I've never seen you here before, and I know just about everyone who comes to this park."

Roxas grimaced. "I guess you could say I'm new," he muttered, "considering I have no idea where I am."

"You don't know where you are?" the man inquired.

"I just woke up here, and I have no idea where we are or even who I am," Roxas explained. "I guess I lost my memories, but I don't know why I would have."

"I see. That isn't good." The man was silent for a moment. "Why don't you come over to my house for a bit? It's as good as a place as any, and we can talk there and see if we can make sense about what's going on with you. My wife always cooks plenty of food, too."

"I think that's as good as an idea as any. I hope you don't mind." Roxas held up his wallet. "Apparently, my name is Roxas Delts. It's nice to meet you."

"Spencer Damon is the name," the man responded, holding out his hand. Roxas grabbed it and shook it. "It's nice to meet you. Now, I'm in the middle of a jog, so do you want to join me, or do you want to wait here until I finish?"

"Actually, a jog my do me some good," Roxas responded. "It just might _jog_ my memories."

Spencer smiled at the pun. "Let's see if you can keep up."

Roxas returned the smile. "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you."

ΩΩΩ

"Omnimon, we're starting to run out of places to look," Gallantmon called as he hurried to catch up with Omnimon as Omnimon strolled quickly through the passageways of the mountain stronghold, Dragonspiral Mountain. Gallantmon was a Digimon completely covered in red, gold, and silver Chrome Digizoid armor. The red visor on his helmet had two yellow eyes and a set of teeth on it, and a long strand of silver hair flowed out of the top of the helmet. The Digital Hazard symbol was emblazoned on the center of his chest, and three Zero Units dotted his body. His right and left arms could transform into his lance, Gram, a lance that could only be rivaled in power by a Darkdramon's Gigastick Lance, and his shield, Aegis, respectively. He was the only Virus Digimon in the Royal Knights, and still sometimes dealt with prejudice because of that fact, but that only caused him to want to prove those who judged him even more.

"With all of the Digimon in the DragonForce Army and the Royal Knights we have available out looking for Equistedramon and DarkEquistedramon on Earth, we've already covered most of the planet in the day since the two of them disappeared through the Digital Gate," he added once he had caught up to Omnimon and matched his stride.

"Then keep searching," Omnimon ordered. Omnimon was a tall Digimon covered in almost completely white armor and black limbs with blue eyes. Omnimon's left shoulder was flat and shield-like, red on the outside and orange in the inside with the Crest of Courage in the middle, and his right shoulder was blue and spherical with several yellow spikes on it. In the middle of his chest was the combined Crest of Courage and Friendship. He also wore a cape that was white on one side and red on the other. His right hand used to be in the shape of a blue metal wolf head, and his left hand used to be in the shape of an orange metal dinosaur head, but due to a program that Equistedramon had created and uploaded to his own data, Omnimon's MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon heads that he had instead of hands were, at the moment, replaced with a set of black-clad hands with yellow claw-like fingers.

"Equistedramon has to be somewhere on Earth," Omnimon insisted. "If we just keep looking, we're bound to find him."

"Yes, but…" Gallantmon's voice drifted off.

"'Yes, but,' what?" Omnimon restated, stopping and turning around to look at his friend in the eyes.

"Well, there's always the chance that Equistedramon didn't make it through the Digital Gate," Gallantmon murmured.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, according to UlforceVeedramon and OmniShoutmon, the last thing that Equistedramon told them was that he was going to die and take DarkEquistedramon down with him," Gallantmon told him. "If they were wounded that badly, then they probably fell apart while still inside the Digital Gate before even falling into the Human World."

"Equistedramon is still alive," Omnimon stated as he turned around and continued down the passage, not a hint of doubt in his voice.

"How do you know that for sure?" Gallantmon inquired as the end of the passageway came into view.

"I just know it," Omnimon said simply as they emerged from the tunnel and entered a large grotto lit by the torches hanging from the walls. The cave was filled with different sized tables with matching chairs, and cupboards hung from different heights off the walls. When Equistedramon had designed the place, he had made it to accommodate a large variety of Digimon. Among the decent sized group of different Dragon Digimon from the DragonForce Army milling around the hall, Omnimon spotted several other Royal Knights.

The Royal Knights had first met Equistedramon just about a week ago, when the latter sent a challenge to Omnimon to see if he was worthy of being a Royal Knight. Not only did he defeat Omnimon, but he faced life-and-death situations head-on with a clear mind and a large amount of deserved confidence and overcame major trials during the week he was with the Royal Knights, prompting King Drasil, the king of the Digital World and the deity that the Royal Knights served, to break tradition and let Equistedramon join the Royal Knights without completing a mission from him. But during his first mission as a Royal Knight, Equistedramon had sacrificed himself to take down his evil half, DarkEquistedramon, as there was no other Digimon who could stand up to DarkEquistedramon, and neither of them would be truly gone if one of them survived. Just after they two of them had fatally injured each other, a Digital Gate had opened up, and the two halves fell in, and now were somewhere in the Human World on Earth.

The results of the two of them going missing, Equistedramon, the new member of the Royal Knights as well as the former Founder and Major General of the DragonForce Army, and DarkEquistedramon, the Supreme Commander of the DragonForce Army, caused the two forces to form a temporary alliance in order to find the two missing Dragon Knight Digimon. Since the fight between the two Dragons had destroyed the DragonForce Army's headquarters, UlforceVeedramon, who was the only remain Royal Knight at the scene at the time, offered them the shelter of Equistedramon's Dragonspiral Mountain stronghold for the time in Equistedramon's absence. King Drasil and Imperialdramon, the highest-ranking Digimon still alive within the DragonForce Army, came to an agreement, and the two forces that had been ready to war with each other were now working together.

Equistedramon had a gift of making immediate friends whenever he first met someone. Even though he had only known Equistedramon for about a week, Omnimon felt like he had a strong and deep bond with Equistedramon. So he had sworn to himself that he would do everything within his power to find his missing friend.

"There you are, Omnimon," a voice called through the crowds. Omnimon spotted the source of the voice and headed over to a table where Imperialdramon, Dorbickmon, and UlforceVeedramon were seated, each with a mug of Digijuice in front of them, and a small pile of Digibyte contains sitting at the center of the table. Shoutmon, who was much smaller than the other three Digimon who were sitting at the table, was sitting on the table itself, stuffing his face with Digibytes.

Shoutmon was a small, red dragon with blue eyes and a spiky mouth. His forehead was V-shaped, and there were green headphones around his ears. His chest, stomach, hands, and feet were white, with black fingers and toes, and the joints appeared to be held together by screws. The Small Dragon Digimon also had a red tail.

Imperialdramon had a more humanoid form than that of the more commonly known Imperialdramon Dragon Mode, very similar in appearance to that of the less commonly found Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, but there were several noticeable differences between this Imperialdramon and a Fighter Mode; mainly the colors. The wings were white instead of the usual red, and the black armor had become white, as well. In addition, there was a white long sword, called the Omni Sword, hanging from his back, with the same strange language written down the length of the white blade as that engraved in the gold ring on the Positron Laser attached to his right forearm. There were two yellow horns sprouting from each side of the hilt on the sword, one on each side. In the middle of the hilt was the combined Crest of Courage and Friendship, just like that in the middle of Omnimon's chest. It was an Imperialdramon in its Paladin Mode, a mode that cannot be reached unless an Imperialdramon Fighter Mode takes in the data of an Omnimon into their own digital makeup. This Imperialdramon was the current first-in-command of the DragonForce Army.

Dorbickmon was a large, crimson-hued draconian with five fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot, similar to that of a bird. There were scar-like stripes close to his yellow eyes with thin, black pupils. His whole body was covered in scaly armor with black, red, and white spikes. His head also had three horns, two jutting above the eyes and a black one sprouting from the center of his snout. There were also two red flame symbols on his chest, symbolizing his mastery over fire. He was the current second-in-command of the DragonForce Army, under Imperialdramon.

UlforceVeedramon was a tall, muscular, blue and white Digimon with gold, silver, and blue armor. His blue head had a pair of almond-brown eyes and two white horns. There was a large, gold V on his chest, and he had blue and pink wings. There were gauntlets on each of his wrists, in which he kept his sword and shield.

"Hello, all of you," Omnimon greeted them as he and Gallantmon sat down with them at the table. A Dracomon came by and gave each of the two newcomers a mug of Digijuice before heading off to the next table.

"Is it just me, or does this place seem to be more like a restaurant…?" Omnimon shook his head and focused on Shoutmon, who had finished eating and was lying with his back on the table, looking for all the world like an over-stuffed turkey. "I see that you de-Digivolved, Shoutmon."

"Yeah," Shoutmon groaned, struggling to sit up. "After everything I've gone through over the past two days, my body just ran out of gas. I need to build up some energy again."

"I don't blame you for that." Omnimon looked at Imperialdramon. "What's the status on the current situation?"

"We got a message just before you walked in, actually," Imperialdramon informed him. "We just got a lead on DarkEquistedramon. He's been spotted in Japan."

"So if DarkEquistedramon is still around, then that means…!" Gallantmon started.

Omnimon nodded his head. "That means that Equistedramon is still around out there!" He looked back at Imperialdramon. "What is DarkEquistedramon up to?"

"Apparently, he doesn't actually have much of a physical form at the moment, and the humans that see him just think they're seeing things. But DarkEquistedramon seems to be chasing after a young man by the name of Roxas Delts."

"Is this, 'Roxas Delts,' handling things okay?" Gallantmon asked.

"Humph," Dorbickmon snorted, smoke streaming out of his nostrils. "You won't believe this, but this kid is actually giving DarkEquistedramon a run for his money," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "He's managed to out-fox and even harm DarkEquistedramon multiple times already, and all without getting a scratch. But he's near the end of his rope. Apparently, DarkEquistedramon has trapped him in what humans call skyscrapers, or just really tall buildings, to put it simply, and there's no way for him to get out if he doesn't want to jump. Every time he goes up a floor, DarkEquistedramon destroys any way of going back down. He'll soon reach the roof, and I'm sure that's when DarkEquistedramon intends on making his move."

"But why would DarkEquistedramon be so hooked onto that boy?" Gallantmon questioned.

UlforceVeedramon shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe that kid has some kind of power that DarkEquistedramon wants to have for himself. Anyways, if we don't decide what to do now, that boy won't survive for much longer."

"Then I'll go," Omnimon put in. As everyone looked at him, he went on. "I'm the only one who hasn't gone to the Human World yet to look for Equistedramon, and I'm the best one to deal with DarkEquistedramon if the need arises. I happen to know about some weak spots that he has that Equistedramon told me about the night he gave King Drasil his armor."

"I'll go with you," Dorbickmon volunteered, rising to his feet. "I have a few things I want to ask DarkEquistedramon, anyways."

"Then you two better get moving," Imperialdramon commented. "That boy doesn't have much time left."

"We're on our way, don't worry," Dorbickmon said as he held up a round, grey metal sphere with a red button on the top. Omnimon had found a large stockpile of these devices in Equistedramon's private quarters and instantly recognized them as the space-oscillation devices that Kurata had invented to travel between the two worlds. He had deduced that Equistedramon had taken them from Kurata's lab in part of his plan for revenge against Kurata. They had then used them to travel between the two worlds in their search for the two Dragon Knight Digimon.

Dorbickmon pressed the button on the top and tossed it into the air. A yellow ring appeared, with yellow and green light pouring out of it.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Omnimon called as he stepped into the Digital Gate. Dorbickmon held a hand up in silent farewell as he too stepping through the gate.

ΩΩΩ

 _This is becoming increasingly ridiculous._ Roxas thought to himself as he and Spencer hid from view from the stairwell behind a cubicle wall on an office level of the skyscraper DarkEquistedramon had trapped them in. He and Spencer had still been jogging when this transparent monster started to chase after them. Oddly enough, nobody but the two of them apparently could see the thing, and the two of them have been running away from the shadow for almost two hours. Roxas had managed to trick the illusion several times, but now they were trapped in a building and were forced to keep going up, while the shadow continued to chase them and wreck any means of going back down.

"How many floors do we have to go before we hit the roof?" Roxas panted, sweat dripping off of his nose as he and Spencer rested.

"This is the fifteenth floor," Spencer wheezed, who was even more out of breath than Roxas and drenched in sweat. "This building only has seventeen floors. We're starting to run low on time and on options."

There was a loud _crash_ , and the door flew out past the cubicle that they were hiding behind and hit the opposite wall.

"Where are you, Equistedramon?" the shadow called out, its voice filled with evil glee. "Come on out and end this charade!"

"There he goes, saying that 'Equistedramon' name again," Spencer commented. "I wonder if he's referring to one of us. But neither of us are Digimon, and why would that one be out hunting for this, 'Equistedramon?'"

"Digimon, huh?" Roxas asked, sneaking a quick look around the corner of the cubicle. The shadow was thrashing across the room, knocking down cubicles one by one as it continued its search for them. "So that's what that thing is? And also, I wouldn't know if he was referencing to one of us as 'Equistedramon.'" He tapped his head with a finger. "No memories up here, remember?"

Without warning, a large, black, red-clawed hand reached around the corner of the cubicle and grabbed Roxas around the waist. Uttering a single, startled yelp, Roxas was lifted up into the air and held at eye-level to the Digimon. It was at that moment that Roxas realized that the shadow had a physical form now; it was no longer transparent, and the hand gripping his body felt plenty real enough.

The Digimon that was holding Roxas was a humanoid black-skinned dragon with black armor that had scarlet trimmings. He wore a dark grey vest-like piece of clothing with blood-red trimmings on his back, chest, and stomach that was held in place by three red diamond-shaped clips that connected it to the armor on his upper body, and his head was completely encased in a black helmet with large red spikes attached to the top. There were zigzag-shaped gaps that resembled two long rows of sharp teeth at the front of the helmet to allow air inside, and there was armor also covering the tip of his tail, from which three short red spikes sprouted. His feet had two toes on the front and one on the back, and there was one long, red spike on each of his knees. His wings were black with stiff, maroon skin stretched between the black spines that were connected to a thicker, black spine on the top of each wing.

"I've finally caught you!" the monster screeched as he watched Roxas struggle to break out of his grip for a few moments. "Even in a human body, you've caused me, DarkEquistedramon, a decent amount of pain and trouble today!"

Roxas stopped struggling and looked straight into DarkEquistedramon's solid black eyes. "If a mere human is able to cause something like you trouble, that must mean you're not all that much to begin with in the first place."

The Digimon smiled wickedly underneath its helmet as he made his way over to the large glass window nearby. Almost as an afterthought, his tail flicked out and sent Spencer flying. "I see you still have that smart mouth, even as a human," he hissed.

"I don't even know you, so how would you know anything about me?" Roxas spat. "And while we're at it, how do you even know that I'm the one you're looking for?"

"You don't know anyone or anything about yourself at the moment, do you?" DarkEquistedramon questioned as they reached the windows. Using his other hand, he broke the glass with a single punch, and the shattered glass began to fall to the streets below. "Don't try to deny it; if you still had your memories, you would have attacked my weak spots a long time ago. And I know that you're the only that I'm looking for because you happen to look just like he used to long ago, and your scent is extremely similar to his."

"What do you mean by, 'long ago'? Shouldn't he look different than me now, depending on how long it's been since you saw him?"

"Forget about it; you won't be living long enough to know the details, anyways." DarkEquistedramon then held Roxas out of the broken window, fifteen floors above the streets. "Now, you can either cooperate with me, or fall over a hundred fifty feet to your death. Your choice."

Roxas shook his head. "Sorry, but what I've seen of you so far, I would rather die than work with you."

"Always the fearless one, aren't you?" DarkEquistedramon hissed. "Still, you've always haven't made the smartest decisions." He loosened his grip, and Roxas slid down a couple of inches. "Goodbye, Equistedramon." And then he let go of Roxas completely.

ΩΩΩ

Omnimon and Dorbickmon emerged from the Digital Gate just in time to see DarkEquistedramon drop something from the broken windows of a building several blocks away from them. Ignoring the startled and screaming humans around them, they jumped up into the air and flew towards DarkEquistedramon. As they got closer, they saw that the falling object was a human.

"That must be Roxas that's falling!" Omnimon shouted. "We have to hurry and catch him!"

"It's no good; we're too far away to catch him!" Dorbickmon called over the howling wind. "He's too close to the ground!"

ΩΩΩ

As soon as DarkEquistedramon had dropped him, Roxas realized that he didn't feel any fear at all as he was falling. The only feeling he felt was exhilaration. The wind was ripping through his hair, howling past his ears.

 _Is this what it feels like to fly?_ He thought to himself as he plummeted towards the ground. _If this is what it feels like, then I want to be able to experience this all the time._

That was when the crystal hanging from his neck began to glow with a blue-white light.

ΩΩΩ

"What's happening to that kid!?" Dorbickmon growled, his eyes wide with shock. The kid had begun to glow with a blue-white light that became brighter and brighter. About three floors from the ground, there was a bright flash of light, and Omnimon and Dorbickmon had to stop and cover their eyes.

ΩΩΩ

Roxas snapped open his wings just in the nick of time. He pulled out of his free-fall and barely managed to pull himself back up into the air, the white and blue scales on his belly skimming the road, causing sparks to fly. He flew back up into the air and hovered next to a glass-covered building, examining his new form.

His appearance was that of a large, white dragon with blue patches of striped skin showing at different places on his body. On each shoulder and on each side of his chest were blue and white gem-like stones set into the body. His white tail ended with four double sided spikes, and the bony wings had silver, sheet-like skin between the spines, and three spikes on the outside of each wing. He had solid yellow eyes and three horns curved from his head down the back of his spiked neck. Roxas also had light-blue hands with five claw-like fingers, and his feet had three toes on the front and one toe on the back.

Suddenly, the back of his neck began to itch. Trusting his gut feelings, Roxas moved to the side just as DarkEquistedramon crashed into the building where he had been just a moment ago.

"What is the meaning of this?!" DarkEquistedramon screeched as he dislodged himself from the building, pointing a claw at Roxas. "What is that form you have taken?! That's not your normal form!"

Except that the dragon he was pointing at was no longer Roxas. "I do not go by the name of Equistedramon or Roxas now," the dragon said. "But you can call me Stardramon."

"Damn you, Equistedramon!" DarkEquistedramon shrieked. "What kind of new power have you uncovered now?! I swear I'll-!"

The rest of DarkEquistedramon's sentence was cut off as Stardramon flew forward and caught DarkEquistedramon in a choke hold with one hand. He continued to place DarkEquistedramon in a headlock, pinning his arms to his sides with his wings in the process. Stardramon then dove straight down towards the ground. Just before reaching the ground, Stardramon released DarkEquistedramon and pulled out of the dive. With a loud cracking sound, DarkEquistedramon slammed into the road, causing a cloud of dust to rise out and hide DarkEquistedramon from sight.

Stardramon hovered over the sight of impact, preparing himself. "I don't know why you would be after me in the first place, but this is for all the trouble you caused for me! _Dragon's Breath!_ "

A large silver, white, and blue flame shot out of Stardramon's mouth and cut through the middle of the dust cloud, hitting the ground hard enough to create a shock wave that shattered a multitude of windows in the nearby buildings. When the fire had died down, the heated pavement caused the dust cloud to dissipate quickly, revealing to Stardramon that DarkEquistedramon was no longer there.

 _Where did he go?_ Stardramon wondered to himself, looking around for any sign of the black dragon. _I didn't see him leave after he hit the ground! How could he move so quickly?!_

"Equistedramon!" called out a voice behind him. Stardramon turned around in mid-air to see a large, white knight-looking creature with a cape and a crimson-hued humanoid dragon flying towards him.

"Is that you, Equistedramon?" the knight called as he and the draconian stopped in front of Stardramon. "What happened to you?"

Stardramon flew several yards back to put some distance between him and the two unusual creatures. "Who are you guys?" he demanded. "Are you also Digimon? And are you after me like that black one was?"

The knight seemed to become a little put out. "Do you not recognize us, Equistedramon?" he asked softly. "Or are you not Equistedramon?"

"This dragon does have the same attack that Equistedramon possesses," the draconian said slowly. "It might be possible that Equistedramon de-Digivolved or something of the sort."

"DarkEquistedramon also called me by that name, 'Equistedramon'," Stardramon hissed. "What in the world is going on here?"

"That almost clinches it," the white knight said. "If DarkEquistedramon was chasing after him with such intent, calling this one Equistedramon, then it's almost certain that this is our missing friend."

"There's only one way to absolutely prove it," the draconian commented. He held out his hand to Stardramon. "In case you don't remember us, my name is Dorbickmon, and this Royal Knight here is Omnimon."

"Thanks for the introductions," Stardramon growled coldly, "but what do the two of you want with me?"

"We think that you're our missing friend, Equistedramon," Omnimon explained. "Even though you look nothing like him at the moment, it could just be that you de-Digivolved somehow."

"Do you have any proof that I'm your missing friend?" Stardramon inquired. "Why should I trust in anything you say, anyways?"

"Come, now, what would we gain by lying to you?" Omnimon scoffed. "We currently have two pieces of evidence to support this theory. One: you possess the same attack as Equistedramon, the Dragon's Breath. And two: DarkEquistedramon was chasing after you, calling you Equistedramon. In fact," he added slowly, "now that I think about it, there's another way to prove that you're our friend." Omnimon raised his left hand, which turned into an orange dinosaur head. " _Transcendent Sword!_ " The mouth on the dinosaur head opened, and a silver blade with black metal in the interior, on which yellow symbols of an unknown language to Stardramon was written, extended from the mouth.

Reacting instantly, Stardramon flew back even further. But he wasn't quiet fast enough. The swinging sword just nicked him on the ankle, cutting deep enough to draw a fair amount of blood.

"What was that for?!" Stardramon roared, putting a hand over the cut. Beneath his hand, he could feel the skin close up almost instantly. At the same time, he felt a small stinging sensation spread across the back of his left shoulder.

" _This_ clinches it," Omnimon stated, examining the blood on the edge of his sword. "I don't know any Digimon, other than Equistedramon, who has blood running in their veins instead of digital energy."

"You didn't have to cut me up to prove that!" Stardramon shouted, removing his hand from his ankle. Luckily, the blood that was still on his ankle and foot hid the fact that the cut had already disappeared.

"You're coming with us, Stardramon," Dorbickmon hissed. "That _is_ what you called yourself, right?"

"I don't have to go anywhere with you guys!" Stardramon retorted. He turned around to fly off when something hit him hard in the back of the neck at the base of his head. He passed out almost immediately.

ΩΩΩ

"Wow, who would have thought you would act so rashly, Omnimon," Dorbickmon commented as Omnimon caught Stardramon before he began to fall. "This whole situation must really be getting to you if you're acting like this."

"Oh, be quiet," Omnimon grunted. "Help me carry Stardramon, will you? He's much larger and heavier that Equistedramon was."

Dorbickmon grumbled for a moment but didn't argue. The two of them each put an arm on their shoulders, dividing the weight between the two of them.

"Hey down there!" a voice called out from above them. Omnimon and Dorbickmon looked up to see Spencer standing at the broken windows in the building where DarkEquistedramon had dropped Stardramon.

"Who's that?" Dorbickmon growled as he and Omnimon flew up to the man.

"Why, if it isn't Spencer Damon!" Omnimon cried out as they got at eye level with the man. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Spencer smiled. "It's been a little more than three years now, Omnimon. I'm glad to see that you're doing well."

"Hold on for a moment," Dorbickmon mumbled, thoroughly confused now. "Do you actually know this man, Omnimon?"

"Of course I do!" Omnimon stated. "This man became trapped in the Digital World thirteen years ago and sought out King Drasil. His body eventually became a vessel for King Drasil after his Digimon partner, BanchoLeomon, took his soul into his own body. But after that fiasco with his son, Marcus Damon, and his friends three years ago, his body and mind were put back in the right place." Omnimon turned back towards Spencer. "I trust that you have been well?"

"I've been doing just fine, Omnimon," Spencer responded. He gestured at the unconscious white dragon propped up between the two of them. "May I ask what the deal is with this dragon?"

"We believe he's our missing friend who fell through a Digital Gate yesterday," Omnimon began. "Although he looks nothing like what he used to, we have several pieces of evidence to support the idea that he's Equistedramon, so we think that he just de-Digivolved. In case you're wondering who Equistedramon the newest member of the Royal Knights."

"I wasn't aware that the Royal Knights had a recruiting process," Spencer remarked. "So what are you going to do with Stardramon?"

"Well, while Equistedramon was still with us, we got a sample of his blood when we did a physical examination on him," Omnimon said. "So we're going to take Stardramon to the Digital World and see if his blood matches Equistedramon's blood. That way, we'll know that his is Equistedramon."

"Blood?" Spencer repeated, frowning. "But don't Digimon have digital energy instead of blood?"

"I know, it sounds unusual," Dorbickmon put it, "but Equistedramon was a special case. He was caught by Kurata five years ago and experimented on for Digimon-human hybrids. That's why his has blood instead of digital energy. And since this Stardramon has blood, too, it's reasonable to assume that this one is related to Equistedramon."

"So are Equistedramon and Stardramon even made of data anymore?" Spencer wondered out loud. "If they have blood, wouldn't it make sense if their whole bodies were made of the real deal? What if they're not really Digimon at all?"

Omnimon and Dorbickmon looked at each other uncertainly. "That's a topic that we've been avoiding thus far," Omnimon admitted. "But never mind that; I just had an idea. Do you want to come to the Digital World and meet up with King Drasil? I'm sure that King Drasil would enjoy chatting to the person whose body was a vessel for him for a long time, and who knows: your son might come around."

Before Spencer could respond, Stardramon's arms began to move. Before Dorbickmon and Omnimon could even react, they had both been placed in a tight head lock as the arms squeezed against their throats.

 _What in the world?!_ Omnimon wondered frantically. _He's already come back around?! But that shouldn't even be possible! No Digimon can recover from a hit like that so quickly!_

"If you even lay a hand on him," Stardramon growled, lifting his head up and looking both Omnimon and Dorbickmon in the eye, "I'll kill the both of you!"

"S-Stardramon!" Omnimon choked out, grabbing at the arm around his neck and trying to free himself. "S-stop this… at once! We weren't… going to harm Spencer… I give you my word!"

"Unfortunately for the two of you, your word doesn't mean much to me!" Stardramon hissed as he tightened his grip even more.

"Gah…Stardramon!" Dorbickmon wheezed, his attempts at freeing himself proving futile. "You're going to break our necks if you keep this up!"

"Stardramon, stop this!" Spencer shouted.

As soon as Spencer shouted, the pressure around Omnimon's and Dorbickmon's necks vanished. Coughing at the sudden rush of air in their throats, Omnimon and Dorbickmon both put some distance between them and Stardramon, rubbing and holding their already-bruising necks.

 _Damn._ Dorbickmon thought to himself as he continued to choke and gasp for air. _Even though he's de-Digivolved, he still has a ton of physical strength and power. That just makes me appreciate Equistedramon's self-control over his power even more._

"Why did you tell me to stop, Spencer?" Stardramon asked. "They cut me just a little bit ago. What if they were going to hurt you?"

"Because they would never hurt me: their actually my friends! Well, at least Omnimon is. I have no idea who the other one is."

"Oh, thanks a load," Dorbickmon growled, still rubbing his neck.

"I didn't mean to hurt you _that_ much," Stardramon muttered, a hint of guilt in his voice. "Here, both of you come here. I'll take care of those bruises."

Both Omnimon and Dorbickmon hesitated for a moment, then cautiously approached Stardramon. Stardramon reached out with each of his hands, but stopped before actually touching Omnimon and Dorbickmon on the neck. " _Pride of the Dragon!_ "

A soft, blue-white light glowed from each of his hands, and both Dorbickmon and Omnimon felt the pain disappear instantly. A few seconds after it started, it was over.

"That's another similarity with Equistedramon," Omnimon observed. "Both he and Stardramon have to power to heal."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it…healing," Stardramon grumbled. He put a hand to his mouth and started to cough, and Omnimon, Dorbickmon, and Spencer all saw the blood run down his hand and jaws.

"Stardramon!" Omnimon exclaimed, grabbing and supporting Stardramon as he began to fall a little. "What happened to you?!"

"Like I said…it's not exactly healing," Stardramon said between coughs, some of this blood running onto Omnimon's arm and shoulder. But if Omnimon minded, he didn't show it. "Man, I didn't realize I had hurt the two of you this much together. It hurts like hell."

"But what did you do to yourself?!" Omnimon demanded.

"My _Pride of the Dragon_ takes injuries inflicted on others and transfer those injuries to me," Stardramon told them. "Stardramon are beings that are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect others, and most of their powers are based on that will. Also, in my case, I can transfer wounds from one part of my body to another, like with that cut you gave me earlier." The blood on his ankle had already dried up, so he rubbed it until the blood had flaked off, showing Dorbickmon and Omnimon that the cut was gone. "I moved that cut to my shoulder," he said as he showed them the cut that was on his left shoulder. "The powers a Stardramon has differs between every one, as the powers are directly connected to the Stardramon's will to protect something."

"How would you know that?" Dorbickmon questioned. "You're to only one of your kind, and you don't even have any memories."

"It doesn't always require memories to know things," Stardramon countered. "I just know. It's kind of like instinct."

"Well, however you know that, it does not matter now," Omnimon said. "But you didn't have to take our pain onto yourself like that."

"It was my fault that the two of you were hurt anyways, and I had no good reason to harm you," Stardramon growled stiffly. "That's a good enough reason for me to take your pain."

"Can we just get to the point now?" Dorbickmon hissed. "Stardramon, are you going to come with us of your own free will, or are we going to have to drag you by your feet back to the Digital World?"

"Dorbickmon!" Omnimon admonished, shocked. "Don't talk like that!"

"No, it's alright," Stardramon soothed. "Yes, I'm willing to go with you now. But," he added, a hint of a warning growl in his voice, "if either of you try to pull any funny business along the way, I promise you that both of you will come to regret it."

"We shall keep that in mind," Omnimon told him, suppressing a shiver at the clear threat in Stardramon's voice. _Is this what Equistedramon was like when he lost his memories after the incident with Kurata?_ He wondered. _Losing all trust in others and beings unknown to him?_

"Then let's go," Dorbickmon declared. Holding up another of the space-oscillation devices. Once more pressing the red button on the top, he tossed it into the air in front of the three Digimon, and another Digital Gate opened.

Omnimon turned to look at Spencer as Dorbickmon stepped into the Digital Gate. "So are you going to come with us, Spencer Damon?"

Spencer shook his head. "The offer is extremely tempting, but no, I think I'll pass," he answered. "I can't just leave my family without warning, and someone has to keep an eye on them since Marcus isn't here to take care of them."

"Too bad," Omnimon remarked. "But if we happen to meet your son, we'll make sure to let him know that everything on this side is doing well."

Spencer smiled once more. "Thank you, Omnimon."

"Please, it's the least we can do after everything you have done for us," Omnimon stated, holding up a hand in farewell. He then looked at Stardramon. "Come on, let us go. Dorbickmon is probably wondering about what is keeping us up."

Stardramon body seemed to sag slightly, but it was gone so quickly that Omnimon couldn't be sure if he was just seeing things. "Fine, let's get on with this."

Omnimon took one last look at Spencer before stepping into the Digital Gate. Stardramon and Spencer looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Stardramon turned to face the gate. But as he entered the Digital Gate, Spencer spotted something embedded into Stardramon's back. It looked like a small, black stone that seemed to give off a dark purple light.

"Hey, Stardra-!" Spencer started.

That was when the gate closed.


	2. Part Two: Evolution of Power

Part Two

Evolution of Power

Imperialdramon and UlforceVeedramon were in the training grounds inside Dragonspiral Mountain doing target practice when a Dracomon messenger came to them baring the news that Dorbickmon and Omnimon had returned and that they had brought a large dragon Digimon back from Earth with them. When questioned further, such as whom Omnimon and Dorbickmon had brought back, the Dracomon stated that he had no further information, and that they should go and see the three travelers to find out for themselves.

"So what do you think about it?" UlforceVeedramon asked as he and Imperialdramon crammed themselves into the elevator.

"Think about what?" Imperialdramon questioned as he pressed a button that would lead them to the top of the mountain. They had been told that Omnimon and Dorbickmon had their guest outside the stronghold as a precaution, in case something went wrong.

"About the stranger that Omnimon and Dorbickmon brought back," UlforceVeedramon said as the elevator started to rise. "Why couldn't they give the Dracomon a name? If they found Equistedramon, then they should just say that they found Equistedramon."

"Unless they don't know what they brought back," Imperialdramon muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" UlforceVeedramon inquired.

"I guess we're about to find out," Imperialdramon replied as the elevator doors slid open, and the two of them stepped out into the open air on top of the mountain.

The first thing they saw in the early afternoon light was Omnimon, Gallantmon, Dorbickmon, and King Drasil standing with their backs to them. At the sound of the doors opening, Omnimon turned around and spotted the two newcomers. "Good afternoon," Omnimon greeted as UlforceVeedramon and Imperialdramon joined them. "I trust that the two of you haven't been wasting your time?"

"I hope that you haven't done that yourself, Omnimon," Imperialdramon growled. "What's the story here?"

"Take a look for yourselves," Gallantmon put in, pointing. UlforceVeedramon and Imperialdramon followed his finger and saw Shoutmon running around in a frenzy.

"What in the world is Shoutmon doing?" UlforceVeedramon questioned. "Don't tell me you called us up here just to watch him make a fool of himself again- Shoutmon does that by himself on a regular daily basis."

"Just wait," King Drasil told them.

A few seconds later, a large silver, blue, and white flame shot out of the woods and headed straight for Shoutmon. Uttering a started shout, Shoutmon dove down and hit the ground just as the flame passed over him, just burning the tip of his tail.

"You got to do better than that, Shoutmon," a voice came out of the woods in the direction that the flame had come. A large white and blue dragon stepped out into the open and looked down at Shoutmon, his arms crossed.

"If you can't even dodge an attack like that from an Ultimate Digimon like me, you have no chance of keeping your Digivolved form together," the dragon growled, the tip of its tail twitching in annoyance. "Remember, the whole point of this training is to help you hold and maintain your energy better so you can stay in you Digivolved state for longer."

"Yeah, but is this really the best way?!" Shoutmon yelped as he got back to his feet. "Somebody could get really hurt doing this kind of training!"

"Don't talk back!" the dragon snapped. "Everything we do is to build up your endurance. If you can't stay Digivolved for at least five days straight, then you shouldn't even Digivolve! _Dragon's Breath!_ "

"Umm… what in the world are we watching?" Imperialdramon inquired as Shoutmon scrambled out of the way of the flames. "And who is that flaming Shoutmon?"

"That white dragon is called Stardramon," Dorbickmon told them. "He's actually the human Roxas that DarkEquistedramon had been chasing after in the Human World this morning. Omnimon and I have several reasons to believe that he's actually Equistedramon. And as to what you're watching, well…"

"When Stardramon heard that Shoutmon de-Digivolved only two days after he first Digivolved, he decided to literally take Shoutmon under his wing so he can maintain his form as OmniShoutmon for longer," Gallantmon finished. "See, that's what I meant by taking Shoutmon under his wing," he added as Stardramon wrapped his wings tightly around Shoutmon. A second later, Shoutmon was lying flat on his back as Stardramon rotated and leveled out his wings. With a flick of his wing, Stardramon sent Shoutmon flying.

"Well, his fighting style seems similar to Equistedramon's," UlforceVeedramon commented. "Taking advantage of things Digimon normally wouldn't even think of. I recall Equistedramon launching Shoutmon like that before when we were on our way to the DragonForce Army's Recruitment Center."

"Yes, but with all of the similarities between Stardramon and Equistedramon, Stardramon is still adamant of the fact that he doesn't remember anything at all," King Drasil said. "But as soon as he saw Shoutmon, something just, 'clicked,' as he phrased it. I think he's only being hard on Shoutmon because deep down, he knows that Shoutmon is his oldest and best friend. He just doesn't remember."

"Is there anything that we can do to possibly jump-start his memories?" UlforceVeedramon inquired.

"We're two steps ahead of you," Dorbickmon told him. He held up something in his hand for all to see. It was a small, rectangular, white device with a screen and a rotating dial with a circular button in the middle. There was also a button on each side of the screen. The top had a car grill-like design with a golden V in the middle.

"Isn't that Equistedramon's Fusion Loader?" Imperialdramon said. When he and the rest of the DragonForce Army had made the peace treaty with the Royal Knights, King Drasil and Omnimon had informed him on everything they knew about Equistedramon and his darker half, DarkEquistedramon.

"That's right," Gallantmon replied. "UlforceVeedramon and OmniShoutmon found on the ground near the DragonForce Army's old headquarters. It must have fallen out of Equistedramon's armor while he was fighting DarkEquistedramon, since we all know that's where Equistedramon stored possessions that he had on hand. We'll be able to kill two birds with one stone using that: if we hand it to Stardramon and it reacts, that means that Stardramon is actually Equistedramon. And if it does that, the Fusion Loader should release some energy into Stardramon's body, and that might jump-start his memories. And as a bonus, it might even make Stardramon Digivolve back into Equistedramon. Also, we won't have to scan his blood to see if it matches Equistedramon's blood if this works. But it all depends _if_ Stardramon is Equistedramon. If the Fusion Loader doesn't react at all, then we're sunk."

"So either many events will unfold, or nothing will happen at all," UlforceVeedramon observed. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He looked over at Stardramon. "Hey, Stardramon!" he called. "Come over here for a moment!"

Stardramon looked up at the sound of his name, and then looked back down at Shoutmon, who had collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. "Five minutes," they heard him growl at Shoutmon as he started to make his way over the crowd of watching Digimon. "Then we're getting right back to it."

"Wonderful," Shoutmon grumbled as he began to relax.

"What is it that you need from me?" Stardramon questioned as he got close enough to King Drasil and the others.

Omnimon took the Fusion Loader from Dorbickmon and held it out to Stardramon. "Here, take this," Omnimon said. "We think that it might belong to you."

"I'm not sure what I'm to do with it, but okay," Stardramon muttered as he grabbed the Fusion Loader from Omnimon's hand.

The first few seconds after Stardramon received the Fusion Loader was very anticlimactic, Omnimon thought later on that day. Most of the Digimon gathered there had been expecting an immediate reaction from the Fusion Loader as soon as Stardramon touched it. But nothing happened as Stardramon examined his new device, and the hopes of the group of Digimon started to fall.

That was when Stardramon pressed the circular button in the middle, and a blue and gold delta symbol appeared on the screen. Everyone there covered their eyes as Stardramon was engulfed in a gold-blue light.

ΩΩΩ

When the light had faded and everyone uncovered their eyes, they saw that Stardramon had gone through a change. He had Digivolved, indeed, but not into what they had been expecting.

His appearance was similar, but his body had taken on a more armor-like form. He was still white with the blue-striped patches of skin, but the skin showing from underneath the scales was a darker, almost blue-green color. His feet had four toes and an extra toe on the side similar to thumbs. His body was more muscularly defined, and the front of his neck was black, while the back was white. He still had solid yellow eyes, but the horns on his head had shrunk and become thicker. His white wings were thick and shaped similar to airplane wings, with black spikes sprouting from the back and light blue skin between the numerous short white spines. His tail had become thicker and more whip-like towards the tip with nothing tipping the end. On each knee and in the middle of his abdomen was a blue and white crystal.

"My name is ShootingStardramon," the new dragon in front of them said.

There was a shocked silence as everyone took in the new dragon standing in front of them. The only noise that could be heard was that of the wind blowing through the trees and Shoutmon sitting up to get a better look at ShootingStardramon. It was UlforceVeedramon who eventually broke the silence. "Well, the Fusion Loader did react to Stardramon, and Stardramon did Digivolve, but we weren't expecting this if he Digivolved."

"I'll say," Omnimon agreed. "And look at him; he's too big to even get inside the mountain anymore!"

One of ShootingStardramon's eyes widened, as if he were lifting an eyebrow. "That problem can easily be solved. I can Slide Evolve into something more manageable, if you'd like." Still holding the Fusion Loader in hand, he rotated the dial a hundred eighty degrees and pressed the center button again. An image of a gold sword appeared on the screen, and ShootingStardramon was once again engulfed in a bright light, and once the light had faded, everyone could see the change in his appearance.

He looked extremely similar to his first form, but it was as if the dragon had taken on a more humanoid and robotic appearance. Almost his whole body was armored, and his hands were covered in metallic, black gloves. His tail had disappeared, and his wings were now just two long, sword-like blades protruding from his back. On each side of his chest and on each of his armored shoulder were clean-cut blue and white crystals like those of his first form. His head was more like that of ShootingStardramon, and the black bodysuit that was visible from underneath the armor had a red line design on it. He stood as tall as Omnimon.

"Is this better?" the armored Digimon queried to a once-again stunned audience. "You can call me WarStardramon now."

"Hold on a second," Shoutmon grumbled, getting uneasily to his feet. "You said earlier that, while you were still Stardramon, you were an Ultimate level Digimon. So does that mean you're now a Mega?"

WarStardramon nodded. "Yes, but Stardramon can actually Digivolve into three different Mega forms," he said. "In addition to that, once a Stardramon has Digivolved, he can change between the three different forms at will whenever he likes. However, the form that I have yet to take can only be used under certain conditions…which at this time, I do not plan to tell you what those conditions are."

"I guess that this is it, then," Gallantmon commented as WarStardramon began to stretch in his new form. "If this is your Mega form, then it looks like that this Digimon really isn't Equistedramon at all, since the Mega level is the last stage in Digimon evolution."

WarStardramon straightened up and approached a nearby tree. His right hand curled into a fist, and he made a move as if to punch the tree, but he stopped just before actually coming in contact with the trunk. But the tree wasn't going to remain standing anyways.

There was a loud noise, like a strong wind blowing through the tree tops, and a large cloud of dirt and debris suddenly appeared and engulfed everyone on the mountain top. Almost immediately after that, there was the sound of coughing as everyone, except for King Drasil, in the cloud inhaled and choked on the sudden dust-filled air.

"What just happened?!" Dorbickmon choked out as the air began to clear. When their visibility was clear, everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

It was as if a tornado had gone across the mountain. There was a twenty foot wide trench directly in front of WarStardramon that kept going until the mountain began to slope down, and all of the trees in or near the path of WarStardramon's punch had been uprooted and demolished. Shoutmon, Omnimon saw, had been thrown back by the force of the blast and had smashed his head on a sizable bolder, putting very deep cracks in the rock and knocking himself out cold in the process. Even as Omnimon watched, the bolder fell to pieces around Shoutmon.

"Whoops," WarStardramon groaned in the dead silence as he eased out of his stance. "I didn't mean to throw the punch _that_ hard. If I had actually tried, I guess half of the mountain would be gone by now."

"D-damn," Dorbickmon stammered, his voice shaky. "T-that's incredible! All of that damage with just one punch without even touching anything. And he wasn't actually trying!"

 _I have to agree with Dorbickmon for once._ Omnimon thought to himself as he continued to look at the devastation before him. _I don't think even I've seen Equistedramon go all out, and yet his strength was still amazing. That fact, and after witnessing this, makes me very glad that Equistedramon had such good control over his power. If he had been trying when the two of us fought, I don't think I would have made it out of that fight alive._

"Gallantmon," WarStardramon suddenly said, causing everyone to twitch in surprise, while still facing the other direction. "What you said earlier about the Mega level being the end of the line for Digimon evolution was incorrect. There's actually one more stage after Mega."

"What?!" Omnimon yelped, catching Gallantmon's eye and giving him a questioning look. Gallantmon just shook his head and shrugged.

"Would you care to inform us about this unknown level?" King Drasil asked quietly, his arms crossed over his chest. Out of everyone there, he and WarStardramon seemed to be the calmest, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that his question was an order.

 _Uh-oh._ Omnimon thought suddenly as a brief memory flashed across is mind. _I hope that WarStardramon doesn't mouth off at King Drasil like Equistedramon did a while back at the Sever Tree. Otherwise, we might be seeing some fireworks._

WarStardramon half turned and looked at King Drasil for a few heartbeats, as if considering his options. "Of course, my king," he finally spoke, briefly dipping his head to King Drasil. "I'll be more than happy to give all the information I have on the matter."

Omnimon sighed in relief as WarStardramon walked over and picked Shoutmon out of the rubble of the broken bolder. _Thank the Digital gods that WarStardramon had the brains to be respectful to our king._ Omnimon said to himself silently while WarStardramon gently propped Shoutmon up against the trunk of an undamaged tree. _We do_ not _need to go through that right now._

"As I said a moment ago," WarStardramon started as he stood up and turned to face the listeners, "there is a level beyond Mega for Digimon. It's called the Super-Ultimate level. However, it is said that a Digimon reaches that level only once every thousand years because a Digimon almost never meet the requirements to evolve past the Mega level barrier. Nowadays, it's only considered to be a myth that is known to very few Digimon, as there aren't any surviving records today showing any data on that level." He paused for a moment. "From what I've gathered since meeting you guys, I can guess that Equistedramon was an extremely strong Digimon, even by the Royal Knights' standards. Didn't you find it odd that a Digimon you thought was a Mega had so much power?"

A couple of them gasped as they realized what WarStardramon was saying. "You don't mean…?" UlforceVeedramon started.

WarStardramon nodded. "Yes, I think it's safe to assume that Equistedramon was a Super-Ultimate Digimon, probably the first one in two millennium. He more than likely held much of his power back so that he seemed on par or a little stronger than a Royal Knight. But he might have not even known how much he was holding back after the incident in which he lost his memories. A Mega level Digimon can't even begin to compare to that of a Super-Ultimate; there's an incredible gap of power between the two, a far bigger gap than between any other level. But how come none of you have heard about this already," WarStardramon unexpectedly asked, his voice suddenly becoming much darker and colder, "when one of you here already knew about this?"

"Huh?" several of them said, and about everyone began to look at one another in confusion. UlforceVeedramon, on the other hand, continued to stare at WarStardramon in shock, his eyes widening in fear and frozen in place.

"That's right," WarStardramon continued slowly, staring back at UlforceVeedramon. "One of you has known about the Super-Ultimate level for a very long time. In fact, that Digimon had reached that level at one point, but apparently regressed back to Mega."

"Who is it?" Imperialdramon inquired.

WarStardramon lifted a hand and pointed. Everyone turned to look at UlforceVeedramon.

"There's no point in trying to deny it, UlforceVeedramon," WarStardramon declared. "I can sense that power leaking out of you like I can smell it! Even if a Digimon regresses after reaching the Super-Ultimate level, the power they had in that form continues to influence that Digimon's power for the rest of their life! Even if you're a legendary Ancient Dragon type, there's no possible way you could have that much power. You're strength rivals, or possibly exceeds, that of Omnimon's, and the only reason for that is because you're still being influenced by that power. Admit it!"

No one spoke as everyone continued to stare at UlforceVeedramon in shock. UlforceVeedramon, in turn, was glaring at WarStardramon, his expression unreadable, even more unreadable than for most Digimon because of the guard covering his mouth.

At last, UlforceVeedramon sighed and relaxed his tense muscles. "How did you know?" he said.

WarStardramon snorted. "Like I said, it's very easy for me to tell if a Digimon has ever reached the Super-Ultimate level. Something about their aura is completely different from other Digimon. Their aura is brighter and has a more solid color than others."

"Aura?" Imperialdramon repeated. "Isn't that the invisible energy that every living thing has? So does this me you can see aura, too?"

"That is correct," WarStardramon replied, pleased that he didn't have to explain everything to his comrades. "All Stardramon and their Digivolved forms instinctively know how to see and understand the aura around them at birth. That's why, in some legends, others have nicknamed us the "Aura Guardians." Depending on the skill, natural talent, and age of a Stardramon and all of their other forms, they can even control and shape their own aura or the aura within their surroundings. For example," he added, lifting his hand up to eye level, "I'm a WarStardramon who excels in all three standards." A large orb of blue and white light suddenly blinked into existence in his palm. "I'm very skilled at shaping and controlling aura." The orb faded, and WarStardramon's hand fell back to his side. "Anyways, what I was trying to say earlier about Equistedramon being a Super-Ultimate Digimon is that it's possible that I can still Digivolve further into Equistedramon, if that is who I am."

"I can understand what you're saying about Equistedramon," Dorbickmon spat unexpectedly, his voice full of contempt, "but what I still don't understand is how you even know this much about yourself and this Super-Ultimate level. I thought you told us you've lost all of you memories, so how could you know this much? Did you really lose your memories, or are you just messing around with us? I know you're hiding something- spit it out already, because if you don't, I'll force it out myself!"

"Dorbickmon!" Imperialdramon hissed when WarStardramon turned to stare at Dorbickmon. "How many times do I have to tell you to control that big mouth and attitude of yours?! Control yourself!"

"No, it is fine, Imperialdramon," WarStardramon soothed as he walked towards Dorbickmon. He stopped just a few feet from the draconian and the two of them glared at one another. "Dorbickmon does have a point; it's odd that I lost my memories and yet still know so much about little-known topics, and I cannot answer the question of why. But I actually find it amusing that this pin-head was the first one to bring it out into the open, and even more so that he thinks he can actually force me to do something."

"Oh?" Dorbickmon growled, steam blowing out of his nostrils. He leaned forward until his snout was inches from WarStardramon's, but WarStardramon stood his ground. "You think you're real funny, don't you, tough guy? Would you like you back up your talk here and now?"

"I have better things to waste my time on than dirtying my hands with you," WarStardramon replied coolly. "Get out of my face, unless you want me to make you wish your Digi-egg had been smashed before you even hatched."

The steam coming from Dorbickmon's nostrils blackened into a dark smoke as Dorbickmon began to tremble with fury.

"WarStardramon!" Omnimon snapped, taking a step back. "Don't provoke him like that! And don't you know that a Dorbickmon becomes stronger the angrier it becomes?"

"Oh, I know," WarStardramon responded calmly. "It might actually make me sweat if he got angrier and fought me. May even help him last a second longer against me."

"That's it- I've had it with that smart mouth of yours!" Dorbickmon roared, small flames shooting from his snout. "This is the thanks I get for bringing you here from the Human World?! Show some respect, you ungrateful, little brat!" And then Dorbickmon threw a punch aimed at WarStardramon's head so fast that Omnimon almost missed it.

Everyone heard the sound of the impact as WarStardramon caught Dorbickmon's punch in the palm of his hand an inch from his face. "What was that supposed to do?" WarStardramon whispered as he forced Dorbickmon to lower his fist. "You'll get respect from me once you've earned it! And I really don't like that arrogant air of yours- I think it's about time for someone to put you in your place!" WarStardramon tightened his grip on Dorbickmon's fist while twisting it at the same time.

The air was fill with roars of pain as Dorbickmon desperately tried to break out of WarStardramon's grasp. This time, it was WarStardramon who leaned over into Dorbickmon's face.

"You know," WarStardramon hissed over Dorbickmon's cries of agony, "If I was actually trying right now, your arm would already be gone!"

"WarStardramon! What in the world do you think you're doing?!" King Drasil suddenly shouted. "Stop it!"

Immediately, WarStardramon released Dorbickmon, and Dorbickmon fell to his knees, cradling his right hand close to his body. WarStardramon looked down at him, an expression of shock and horror spreading across his face.

"I-I'm sorry," he sputtered. "I honestly don't know what came over me." He held an open hand above Dorbickmon. " _Pride of the Dragon!_ "

Dorbickmon's whimpers instantly died out, and he straightened up, looking at his right hand in wonder.

"E-excuse me," WarStardramon stammered. "I need to be alone for a little bit." With all eyes on him, he walked up to the elevator door and placed his right hand on the scanner. Everyone saw him flinch in pain, but he held his hand on the scanner until the doors opened. Without a word, he stepped inside, and the doors silently slid shut behind him.

"Now I certainly wasn't expecting _that_ ," Gallantmon commented in the ensuing silence.

"Agreed," Imperialdramon spoke up. "I'm still not sure of what I saw myself."

"I've never seen Equistedramon act like that before," said a voice from behind everyone. Everybody turn to see that Shoutmon was awake and on his feet. "Except whenever we talked about DarkEquistedramon, I've never seen Equistedramon that upset."

"Are you sure that that was Equistedramon?" Omnimon queried. "Because when I saw what just happened, he reminded me more of DarkEquistedramon that Equistedramon."

Shoutmon nodded. "Positive. Even during the short time that we were training, I could sort of guess what was going on inside Stardramon's head. I think he knows that he's really Equistedramon; it's just that he hasn't realized it yet. But something isn't right about him. Something must be affected him somehow."

"Did anyone else notice how the door opened for WarStardramon?" UlforceVeedramon piped up. "Remember the trouble we went through just to get inside the mountain the first time, Omnimon?"

"You're right, UlforceVeedramon," Omnimon cried, snapping his fingers. "And Equistedramon once told me himself that it only opens for him or something he programmed. And we have yet to even upload the recognition program to Stardramon! He must be Equistedramon!"

"I'm going to go and talk to WarStardramon," Shoutmon announced as he made his way towards the elevator, but Omnimon stepped in his way.

"Hold out on doing that for now, Shoutmon," Omnimon told him. "Let's give him some alone time to think about things, then I'll go with you to see him. After the way he just acted, I don't think it would be safe for only one Digimon to see him at a time. There's no telling how he'll react."

ΩΩΩ

It was late in the evening when Shoutmon and Omnimon stepped out of the elevator into Equistedramon's private quarters. "WarStardramon?" Omnimon called when the two of them reached the end of the short cave and entered a large grotto filled with different machines and covered in wires, all lit by the torches hanging from the walls. The large, bronze dragon statue on display in the middle of the cave was a gift from the DragonForce Army Council for his time of Service in the army, and its open mouth was still pointed at the tunnel as if it were breathing out flames. "Are you in here? Come on out, we just want to talk to you!"

"Over here!" WarStardramon's voice called out from the direction of the rocky walls directly to the right of the dragon statue. Omnimon and Shoutmon headed off in that direction and found WarStardramon sitting at a table near an empty medical pod set up right against the wall, reading one of Equistedramon's handwritten, leather-bound journals. Several more of Equistedramon's journals were stacked up on the table.

Omnimon hesitated for a moment, but went ahead and asked, "How do you feel, WarStardramon?"

WarStardramon closed the journal he was reading and stood up, stretching. Both Shoutmon and Omnimon noticed that he took care not to move his right wrist too much. And Omnimon's sharp eyes also happened to notice that, even though his wrist was armored, it had still turned a brilliant shade of purple. "Excellent, now that I solved the problem that caused me to lose it outside earlier today," WarStardramon responded.

"Really?" Omnimon inquired, impressed. "So how did you figure it out?"

"With this," WarStardramon answered, patting the medical pod. "I found this and tried to see if it could find anything unusual about my body. It found an anomaly in my lower back, so I was then able to remove the problem afterwards."

"Well, don't leave us hanging!" Shoutmon cried, jumping up onto the table with the journals on top of it. "Tell us what you found!"

WarStardramon smiled. "You better be careful, Shoutmon, because you're practically standing on it."

"Huh?" Shoutmon queried as WarStardramon walked back to the table and picked up something close to Shoutmon's foot. He held it up so that Omnimon and Shoutmon could see it clearly.

It was a plain, black scale that seemed to give off an eerie, purple glow. Shoutmon caught a faint whiff of an acidic smell coming off of the scale.

"I found this stuck deep in my armor," WarStardramon told them as the other two Digimon leaned closer for a better look. "And after going through some of Equistedramon's journals, which all date back to at least five years ago, I discovered that this scale is actually from DarkEquistedramon himself."

"What?!" Omnimon and Shoutmon yelped, looking at WarStardramon's face, then at each other's.

"That's right. Apparently, DarkEquistedramon placed one of his scales on someone that he wanted to influence and eventually gain total control over. The scale carries his evil emotions and badly influences the victim. He must have placed one on me when we fought in the Human World, and I didn't even notice. That's why I've been so rough around the edges ever since I first met up with you guys. But now we don't have to worry about that anymore. I'll properly dispose the scale now."

"But if Equistedramon had all of this written in his journals…" Shoutmon began.

"Then why would he tell us that he knew nothing about DarkEquistedramon?" Omnimon finished, picking up on Shoutmon's line of thought. "He could have read all of his journals and filled in the missing memories."

"I don't think so," WarStardramon disagreed, shaking his head as he pressed a few buttons on the medical pod. A small tray with multiple holes in the metal popped out of the dashboard of the medical pod. "Funny," he grunted as he placed the scale in the tray. "I've never seen one of these before, and yet I know how to use it." A clear sheet of metal covered the top of the tray, and the three of them watched as flames shot out of the holes in the metal and devoured the scale. "That function is normally used to take care of old bandages, but it works just fine in this case." WarStardramon turned to face the others once the scale had been burnt to a crisp. "As I said, I don't think Equistedramon even knows about these journals. I found them in a chest that was locked tightly and with enough dust to make a house. They haven't been touched in years, at least."

"Well, anyways, it's great that you discovered the reason for you acting so strange, but..." Omnimon pointed at WarStardramon's damaged wrist. "I know that you took that injury from Dorbickmon after you hurt him, but there's no reason for you to keep it yourself. You could have healed it already with that medical pod next to you. You're going to need your hand if we happen to run into DarkEquistedramon again."

"I know that," WarStardramon sighed, "but I'll pass on that offer. I'm keeping it to remind myself of my actions earlier today, and the pain is a constant reminder itself. Besides, I couldn't have healed it with the medical pod anyways- my wrist is dislocated, and the medical pod is meant for someone to be inside it while someone is operating it on the outside. It's a two person job to actually heal someone. I was lucky enough to get scanned by myself with only one hand to operate it, but I don't think I'll try to push my luck any further today."

"Then let's take care of it now!" Shoutmon offered. "I know that you didn't mean to hurt Dorbickmon, but you were under the influence of DarkEquistedramon's scale! You couldn't help yourself!"

WarStardramon suddenly growled, silencing Shoutmon. "You're wrong about that, Shoutmon," he growled. "I knew what I was doing at the time, and I knew that what I was doing was not the correct thing to do, but I _still_ did it anyways. I could have stopped myself, yet I _didn't_. I'm as guilty and responsible for my actions as anyone would be even under the influence of that damned scale of DarkEquistedramon's. If nobody is willing to punish me for my own actions, then I'll take it into my own hands to see that I get justice that I deserve. Taking Dorbickmon's broken wrist for myself is the very least I deserve."

"But there's no reason to beat yourself up about it…" Omnimon started.

"Shut up!" WarStardramon unexpectedly shouted, bringing his right fist down on the table next to him with a _bang_. He immediately groaned in pain and clutched his wrist.

"WarStardramon!" Shoutmon pleaded. "Please stop doing this to yourself!"

Omnimon watched this all in silence. "Something's bugging you about what you did to Dorbickmon, isn't there?" he commented quietly. "Why don't you tell us about it? It might make you feel better if you do."

WarStardramon stopped holding his wrist and sat still in his chair, staring at the ground and wrapping his hands tightly around themselves. Something dripped off his face and onto the ground, and Omnimon and Shoutmon both realized that WarStardramon was crying.

"Whoa, hold on, WarStardramon," Shoutmon soothed, walking across the table to place a hand on WarStardramon's arm. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"I appreciate your concern, Shoutmon," WarStardramon mumbled, roughly pushing Shoutmon's hand aside, "but I think at least someone other than me should know this. It'll feel good to get this off my chest." He took a deep, shaky breath, then looked up, his eyes brimming with tears.

"I killed my best friend."

ΩΩΩ

"I remembered this after I had attacked Dorbickmon, just this one memory," WarStardramon began as Omnimon and Shoutmon listened intently. "This was long before I woke up in the Human World. Honestly, I don't know how I ended up in the Human World in the first place, or why I had taken a human form, for that matter. But about five years ago, (at least I think it was five years ago, but I don't know why I think that) I was hanging out with a multitude of my friends. We were celebrating for one of them as he had just retired from something, but I can't remember from what he retired. Even this memory is in pieces; all I even remember about that Digimon was that he was a purple dragon with blue and gold armor, and he always carried around an over-sized gold lance."

Omnimon and Shoutmon both stiffened in shock and surprise, but neither of them said a word. WarStardramon noticed none of this. "I had just gone inside his home to get another cup of Digijuice when I heard everyone yelling and screaming. I ran back outside to find half of the Digimon there being carried off in nets by something I couldn't quiet see, and the other half lying on the ground already reverting back to Digi-eggs. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I saw my friend's lance lying near me. Without thinking, I grabbed the lance, closed my eyes, and threw it in the direction that I had seen that being. When I opened my eyes to see if I had hit my target, not only did I see that I had, but I also saw who I had stabbed straight through the chest."

"It was the friend that we were celebrating for," WarStardramon choked out, his voice cracking. More tears rolled off his face and onto the floor. "That look on his face as he fell over…it still haunts me to this day, now that I remember it. After that, I just ran. The last thing I remember was that I kept running until I lost consciousness when something slammed into my forehead."

WarStardramon looked up to see Omnimon and Shoutmon looking at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. "Ha, of course," WarStardramon moaned as he looked back down to the ground, his voice shaking. "You also think that I'm at fault for his death too, don't you? I wouldn't blame you if you struck me down right here and now for all I've done."

"WarStardramon," Omnimon said in a voice that made WarStardramon look at him. Omnimon's face was still expressionless, but his eyes were glimmering with tears, as well. "Your friend isn't dead."

"What?" WarStardramon whispered, too shocked to react properly.

"Your friend is the Digimon we've been searching for," Shoutmon told WarStardramon. "His name is Equistedramon."

"Equistedramon…?" WarStardramon looked down at the ground again. "Yeah…if I think about it, that name fits my friend for some reason." His hands gripped each other tighter, and his wrist cracked as the pressure popped it back into place. "Are you two pulling my leg, or are you being serious?"

"We wouldn't joke about something like this," Omnimon stated quietly.

"So he's alive, huh?" More tears ran off of WarStardramon's face, but they weren't tears of sadness this time. "After all of this time with living with the thought that I killed my closest and best friend, I find out, after five, long years, that he's still alive? I…I don't know what to do!"

"You can start by not beating yourself up about it anymore," Omnimon told him, placing a hand on each shoulder as he got down on one knee to look WarStardramon in the face. "Then we can go out and look for our friend Equistedramon together."

"You're right," WarStardramon muttered, wiping the tears off his face. "Look at me- I'm a wreck. Who would have thought to see a Dragon Warrior Digimon cry? It's pitiful!"

"Everyone has to show their emotions eventually," Omnimon said.

"Hey, wait a second!" Shoutmon cried out, stamping his feet. "How come I don't get to be part of this touching conversation?!"

WarStardramon smiled weakly. "That's Shoutmon for you."

"Always there to break the tension with his antics," Omnimon added.

"Hey, you guys can't talk about me like that!" Shoutmon yelled, irritated. "You two hardly know me- we're not old and close buddies!"

WarStardramon gave a shaky laugh and got to his feet. "Let's find Equistedramon together, Omnimon!" he declared as Omnimon rose to his feet.

"Don't forget about me!" Shoutmon yelped, slapping WarStardramon's arm with good intent.

"You're right, WarStardramon," Omnimon said cheerily. "I hope that…no, I _know_ that we'll find Equistedramon!"

"Hey!" Shoutmon shouted, jumping up and down in fury. "Am I invisible or something?! I'm part of this too, you know!"

ΩΩΩ

"I still can't believe it," Dorbickmon growled. It was the morning after WarStardramon arrived at Dragonspiral Mountain, and he, Imperialdramon, WarStardramon, King Drasil, and all of the Royal Knights had gathered in Equistedramon's private quarters for a meeting. It was the first time for some of them to be in Equistedramon's room, and those Digimon had been started by the unexpected appearance of its interior. WarStardramon had spent the wee hours of the night and morning carefully rearranging some of the sensitive machines and equipment to make room for everyone to sit around a large, round table that used to have piles of papers and books that Equistedramon had written, but were now organized neatly in empty shelves and filing cabinets that WarStardramon had found lined up against the wall near the medical pod. Omnimon had questioned him on how much sleep he had the night before when he and the other Royal Knights entered the grotto and saw the changes.

"That's not important right now," WarStardramon had answered wearily. Anyone could have seen how drained he was, but only Dorbickmon had been tactless enough to comment on that when he saw WarStardramon, asking if he had his head buried in the ground overnight. "We need to find Equistedramon above all else; how much sleep I get isn't a priority right now." But even now, WarStardramon's head was nodding as he struggled to stay awake in the presence of King Drasil and everyone else.

"I still can't believe it," Dorbickmon repeated as he watched WarStardramon struggle against his exhaustion. "I can't believe that Equistedramon was actually WarStardramon's closest friend, and that WarStardramon was there when Equistedramon was captured by Kurata."

"Yes, it is hard to believe, Omnimon agreed, "but according to WarStardramon's only memory, that's the case. We can also deduce that the celebration he was attending for Equistedramon was when he retired from his position at the DragonForce Army, based on the time that this event took place, and that the cave that Equistedramon found that dragon statue behind me was probably his old home."

"This also explains why Kurata was able to capture Equistedramon in the first place," UlforceVeedramon added. "I always thought it was odd that Kurata was able to capture him, given to how much strength I've seen Equistedramon show. But Equistedramon was already severely injured when Kurata found him; no offense, WarStardramon."

"Huh?" WarStardramon's head snapped up, eyes wide and alert. A second later, his eyes narrowed and his head fell back down.

"Oh, good grief," Imperialdramon growled. "WarStardramon, we appreciate you staying up last night to get everything prepared and ready for this morning's meeting, but you shouldn't stretch yourself out like you have; it affects all of us, not just you. You should go and get some rest after we're done here…? Hey, are you listening?"

A well-time snore answered Imperialdramon's question. A few of the Digimon chuckled, while others made noises of exasperation. Even King Drasil cracked a laugh. Imperialdramon, on the other hand, was not amused.

"WarStardramon!" Imperialdramon snapped.

"I'm awake!" WarStardramon yelped, jerking his head back up.

"Oh, for crying out loud, WarStardramon! Get a grip!" Dorbickmon hissed, grabbing WarStardramon's arm and shaking it. "If you can't stay awake, then just leave us and go and get some sleep!"

"Where would I sleep, anyways?" WarStardramon retorted. "All of the beds large and strong enough to support me are being used already, and I have yet to find a single place in this room where Equistedramon could relax and rest in comfort."

"I've never noticed that, now that you mention it," Gallantmon piped up, his curiosity peaked. "You would think that, since this is Equistedramon's private quarters, there would be some place for him to lie down and rest. Now that I think about it, I don't think any of us have actually _seen_ Equistedramon sleeping for real before!"

"I think you have that wrong, Gallantmon," Crusadermon intervened. "Didn't you see him sleep, UlforceVeedramon, when you and Shoutmon traveled with him to the DragonForce Army's Recruitment Center?"

"Actually, Crusadermon, this was something that was bugging me when I left with Equistedramon and Shoutmon. I never really did see Equistedramon sleep myself, either. Shoutmon and I were always drained of our energy at the end of the day due to our training with Equistedramon, so we would always fall asleep before him, and when we would wake up, he would already be waiting on us to leave. I kept worrying about his health after the first night for the rest of the trip."

"Why are we talking about Equistedramon's _sleeping habits_?!" Dorbickmon spat, releasing WarStardramon from his grasp. "I thought we came here this morning to come up with our next move in finding him and DarkEquistedramon!"

"You're right, Dorbickmon," Dynasmon said. "We didn't come here to chit-chat and twiddle our thumbs. We have to locate Equistedramon and DarkEquistedramon before any more problems break out."

"Speaking of DarkEquistedramon," Craniamon spoke, looking over at WarStardramon, who finally appeared to be managing his weariness. However, Omnimon, who was sitting next to WarStardramon, found out otherwise. He looked down and saw that WarStardramon was pinching his injured wrist, out of sight of the others under the table- WarStardramon was using the pain to keep himself awake. "Do you have any idea what happened to DarkEquistedramon when you fought him in the Human World yesterday, WarStardramon?"

"I honestly don't know what happened myself," WarStardramon admitted, placing both elbows on the table and propped his head up with his hands. "My attacked caused a large cloud of dust to rise, and I can only guess that he used that to his advantage and escaped under its cover. I also can't figure out when he placed that wretched scale of his on my back; he was never in a good position to get me back there, even when he dropped me. I'm sure I would have felt him touch me when he did it."

"While we're on the subject of unexplained events," Leopardmon interrupted, "I need to ask you something, WarStardramon. We all know that Dragonspiral Mountain can only be accessed by going through one of the scanner doors, and those won't open for anyone other than Equistedramon or a Digimon with the security recognition program uploaded to their main data frame. Yet you were able to get through those doors with ease, and nobody has spoken up yet that they gave you the recognition program. So I want to know how you got in."

"You expect me to know that?" WarStardramon snapped.

"What?!" Leopardmon was instantly on his feet. "What was that tone for?"

"How do expect me to answer when I still haven't recovered almost any of my memories?" WarStardramon pulled one of his eyelids down and made a face. "Stupid!"

"Why, you insolent-!" Leopardmon screeched, making a move to leap over the table and onto WarStardramon. He was immediately restrained and forced back down in his seat by Dynasmon and UlforceVeedramon, who were seated on either side of him.

Omnimon laughed. "Wow, I can't believe we got someone, WarStardramon," he chuckled.

"Yep, he fell for that one; hook, line, and sinker," WarStardramon agreed, leaning back in his chair, amusement glimmering in his eyes.

"King Drasil! Aren't you going to reprimand them?!" Leopardmon demanded, bringing his hand down on that table with a _slap_ when he looked at his liege.

King Drasil didn't move an inch. "It's alright, Leopardmon," he told him. "WarStardramon's reaction was planned between WarStardramon himself, Omnimon, and I if anyone asked WarStardramon to explain a topic that he couldn't cover. It was supposed to help some of us blow off some of the extra steam we've been gathering over the past few days. It didn't work as well as we thought it would, though."

"King Drasil, you were in on this, too?!" Imperialdramon questioned in both shock and dismay.

"Equistedramon and WarStardramon have been a negative influence on the King!" Craniamon accused, pointing a finger at WarStardramon. "They've never shown proper respect or manners!"

"Oh, don't be over dramatic," WarStardramon moaned, waving off the accusation. "It was King Drasil's idea; I just did as the king told me."

Most of the Royal Knights looked at each other uneasily; the same thought had crossed all of their minds.

 _If WarStardramon only did was King Drasil asked of him…_ Crusadermon thought.

 _Then_ that _was what our king came up with as his idea of a prank…?_ Craniamon wondered.

 _No doubt about it._ UlforceVeedramon said to himself, feeling heat rushing to his face from embarrassment. _He may be our king, but he has a long road ahead of him in the task of learning about humor._

Magnamon leaned over behind Omnimon and reached out for WarStardramon. A loud _smack_ reverberated throughout the room as Magnamon slapped WarStardramon full across the face.

"Magnamon!" several of the Royal Knights around the table yelped, shocked by Magnamon's actions.

"Nevertheless, I think we can all come to agree that King Drasil didn't act like this before you and Equistedramon showed up," Magnamon snapped, still leaning towards WarStardramon. "He's the king and ruler of the world; show some proper respect in his presence!"

WarStardramon hadn't even budged when Magnamon had hit him, and his eyes were still facing the direction that Leopardmon was in. But then his eyes moved to look at Magnamon before the rest of his head follow. "You're one to talk about proper conduct in our king's presence, after that stunt you just pulled, Magnamon," WarStardramon hissed dangerously, the spot where he had been slapped already turning red.

 _Whoa._ Omnimon thought as he moved his seat a little bit away from the table to get out from between WarStardramon and Magnamon. He could practically see the sparks flying through the air between the two of them as they glared at one another. _I thought I saw what WarStardramon was like when he's angry yesterday afternoon, but this anger is way beyond that of yesterday! And I know that Magnamon has been more irritated than usual lately- in fact, probably ever since the Server Tree was destroyed- but what would he gain from picking a fight with WarStardramon?!_

"Alright, everyone just calm down…" Imperialdramon soothed. Dorbickmon watched the scene with mild interest.

That was when WarStardramon sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry if I did anything to get on your nerves, Magnamon," he apologized. "Please let me inform you that it wasn't my intention to cause any trouble for you."

A surprised silence followed this remark as everyone stared at WarStardramon. Both he and Equistedramon were rarely the first ones to apologize for something they've done or caused.

Magnamon, on the other hand, apparently wasn't please with WarStardramon's apology. Slipping his hand around the back or WarStardramon's head, he suddenly slammed it down with all of his might against the heavy hard-wood table. The force of the impact caused the table to rupture with deep fissures and cracks all over the surface.

"Magnamon!" Omnimon shouted, jumping to his feet. He and Dynasmon grabbed Magnamon by the arms and dragged him away from the table. Magnamon was struggling furiously and let loose incomprehensible screams and noises. "This time you've gone too far!"

King Drasil stood up, both of his hands still placed on the top of the table. The table groaned under his heavy weight, but it held. "What is the meaning of this, Magnamon?!" he ordered. "Explain yourself!"

"Are you okay, WarStardramon?" UlforceVeedramon asked as he and Imperialdramon got on either side of WarStardramon's chair. WarStardramon was lying in the same position on the table that Magnamon had left him in.

"I think he's out cold," Imperialdramon commented as he stepped closer to WarStardramon's side and saw the blood starting to pool up around WarStardramon's head on the table. Some of the blood seeped through the cracks in the table and dripped to the floor. "Come on and help me, UlforceVeedramon; let's get him inside that medical pod over there."

"I'll help out, too," Leopardmon put in as he joined UlforceVeedramon and Imperialdramon by WarStardramon's side. "Omnimon told me that he's a lot heavier than he looks."

The remaining two Royal Knights, Crusadermon and Craniamon, had joined Omnimon and Dynasmon in restraining the crazed Magnamon. They were each struggling fiercely to hold down one of Magnamon's flailing limbs.

"What's gotten into you, Magnamon?!" Crusadermon grunted after a leg that had a loose grip on it smashed itself into the side of her head. "This isn't like you at all!"

Dorbickmon and King Drasil were standing over the five struggling Digimon. To their surprise, Dorbickmon got down on one knee, grabbed Magnamon's head, and forced Magnamon to look him straight in the eyes. Magnamon immediately stop struggling, and they glared at each other for a few seconds, and then Magnamon's eyes looked away.

"You're right about something, Crusadermon," Dorbickmon snorted, rising to his feet. Magnamon resumed his struggling "Just look at his eyes- you can tell that he's being influenced or controlled by somebody right now! But who's controlling him?! And he also shouldn't be giving four other Royal Knights so much trouble!"

UlforceVeedramon had just reached out and touched WarStardramon when WarStardramon stirred.

"You're right, Dorbickmon," WarStardramon bit out as he placed his two hands on the tabletop and forced himself into a standing position. There was a large gash in his forehead, and blood was pouring profusely out of it and down his face onto the floor. The blood was also running into his eyes, but if WarStardramon noticed, he didn't show any signs.

"WarStardramon!" Dorbickmon snapped, walking over to grab WarStardramon's shoulders. "You shouldn't be standing right now! You need to rest now; if you lose too much blood from that wound, the results could prove fatal."

"Ha, thank you for your concern, Dorbickmon," WarStardramon panted, leaning heavily on Dorbickmon's body to keep himself standing. "It means a lot to know that you care for me."

Dorbickmon suddenly stepped away, and WarStardramon almost fell over in the absence of his support. He looked up to see Dorbickmon's head was facing a different direction with his arms crossed across his chest, but just about everyone could see the color that had risen to his face. "W-well, it-it's not like I care about what happens to you," he finally manage to spit out.

"I'll be," Imperialdramon spoke in wonder. "I never thought I would see the day that you opened your heart to someone, Dorbickmon."

"Shut up!" Dorbickmon cried defensively, turning until his face was in Imperialdramon's. "It's not like that at all. I just don't wasn't to lose a powerful ally, that's all!"

WarStardramon's voice in the ensuing laughter was the first by long to die out. "Alright, let's get serious,' he growled. He walked over to Magnamon, picked him up by his chest armor with his right arm, and slammed him against the wall. "Better start talking now, you blue-faced freak! WarStardramon yelled while Magnamon struggled to break out of his grip. The four Royal Knights backed up until they stood with the others behind WarStardramon. "Or should I even call you that…DarkEquistedramon?"

"What?!" everyone shouted as a wicked smile crossed Magnamon's face. His tail whipped out without warning and smacked the damaged wrist on the arm holding Magnamon up with the tip. WarStardramon grunted in pain and loosened his grip enough so that Magnamon was able to break out if it. Magnamon put some distance between him and everyone else before turning around to face them.

"I'm surprised that you knew it was me, WarStardramon," called out a voice that came from Magnamon but wasn't Magnamon's normal voice. His eyes started to glow blood-red, and a dark purple, almost black, smoke seemed to rise off of Magnamon's body and hovered a few inches above his skin. "How did you figure it out? Did Equistedramon leave any notes or something behind in here about this possession skill I possess?"

"It doesn't take someone to leave behind directions for everything to find a black scale that reeks like the first enemy I battled stuck in my back," WarStardramon shot. "Oh, and by the way…"

"Hmm?" DarkEquistedramon muttered.

WarStardramon pinched his nose with one hand and waved the air in front of his face with the other. "Not to be rude, but you seriously need to wash sometimes," WarStardramon groaned. "I can tell by just sniffing your scale that I found on me when the last time you bathed. Dude, going a month without washing is bad hygiene. You need to take better care of yourself."

"Shut up!" DarkEquistedramon roared. "Since when did anyone care about how I smell? I haven't been in a place with a large amount of Digimon anytime lately!"

Dorbickmon and Imperialdramon both decided to cough loudly at this point. "Not to be a party crasher, DarkEquistedramon…" Dorbickmon started.

"…But what about your recent tenure at the DragonForce Army?" Imperialdramon finished. "Everyone could smell you in the rooms or hallways, and nobody wanted to be near you. In fact, whenever we were about to have a war council, we had to find a Sorcerermon to cast a clean air spell on all of us before going into that room with you. Second General BurningGreymon, in particular, was in danger of passing out a multitude of times, even with the clean air spell."

"What?! No, that can't be true!" DarkEquistedramon wailed, and he was suddenly in a shadowy corner of the cave, whimpering. "And I thought everyone stayed away from me because they feared me… _sob_."

"Is this Digimon for real?" WarStardramon inquired as he and the other onlookers watched the scene in front of their eyes. "Is he really DarkEquistedramon? It's so pitiful, it's almost sad."

DarkEquistedramon suddenly disappeared from the corner, and WarStardramon raised his left hand to catch a punch thrown by DarkEquistedramon. This happened so fast that the Royal Knights and the DragonForce leaders didn't even know it happened until it was over.

"Why does everyone have to aim for my face?" WarStardramon muttered.

"So you didn't fall for my little trick, eh?" DarkEquistedramon hissed as he and WarStardramon struggled to throw the other back.

"Of course I didn't," WarStardramon snapped. "That's the oldest trick in the book; pretending to not be a big deal, only to launch a sneak attack. Who wouldn't have seen that one coming?"

Dorbickmon was staring at the two fighters, scratching his head. "Can someone please explain to me what in the world is going on here?"

"Well, I guess that one speaks for himself," DarkEquistedramon mumbled.

"Heh, heh…yeah, that one is usually a master thinker," WarStardramon informed DarkEquistedramon, "but I always thought that Dorbickmon would need to give his brain a break at some point. Hey, Dorbickmon," he called, turning to look at the Digimon in question. "Where's your brain this time? Did you leave it in a cup of water on your bedside table?"

"Shut up and keep fighting unless you want me to get involved and take care of the both of you!" Dorbickmon roared, smoke and flames fuming from his nostrils. He took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, "You might want to stop fooling around and get rid of this possession before you lose much more blood, WarStardramon," he warned.

"Ha, you really think that this Mega can overpower a Super-Ultimate like me?!" DarkEquistedramon cackled. "You must be out of your mind!"

"That's where you've made a big mistake, DarkEquistedramon!" WarStardramon told him. "I think you've forgotten that, even if you're a Super-Ultimate, you're using a Mega Digimon's body right now! Never underestimate your opponents!"

WarStardramon bodily hefted the possessed Magnamon into the air. His hand moved across Magnamon's back until he found what he was looking for. "Good bye, DarkEquistedramon!" he announced to the struggling body in his arms. "See ya later!"

"No!" DarkEquistedramon screeched as WarStardramon got a good grip on the black scale that was barely visible from between Magnamon's armor and skin and tugged. The scale came free, and the red glow instantly faded from Magnamon's eyes, along with the purple fog that hung around his body.

"That should do it," WarStardramon grumbled, dropping Magnamon to the floor. He swayed, then dropped to the floor himself.

Magnamon stirred and opened his eyes. "What happened?" he questioned as he looked around the room.

ΩΩΩ

"That was interesting, to say the least," Dorbickmon put in once all of the Digimon, except WarStardramon, had gathered and sat back down at the damaged table. It had been an hour since WarStardramon got rid of Magnamon's influence over WarStardramon, and King Drasil and Imperialdramon had just returned from sending out messages to their forces to update them on the matters and warn them of DarkEquistedramon. When those two were gone, several smaller Digimon came in to clean up the blood on and under the table that had poured from WarStardramon's head, but now that King Drasil and Imperialdramon were back from their errands, the meeting could finally start again.

Dorbickmon held up the black scale that WarStardramon had pulled out of Magnamon's back. "Let's hope that no one else has one of these infernal scales stuck in them," he added as he crushed the scale in his grip, letting the little pieces fall onto the table.

"I wouldn't have to worry about that if I were you, Dorbickmon," UlforceVeedramon told him. "We all made sure to check each other for those blasted scales after Magnamon recovered. There isn't a possibility that could have we missed one. The only reason that we didn't happen to notice the one on Magnamon is because none of us could have seen the thing unless we had our faces in his back, with that scale suck so deep underneath Magnamon's armor."

"We're going to have to be more careful around DarkEquistedramon so he doesn't get a chance to plant one on us if he shows up again," Omnimon commented, deeply concerned. "We don't want another one of us to get possessed."

"By the way, Dorbickmon, how's WarStardramon doing?" Imperialdramon asked. "I hope that you know how to operate that medical pod he's in."

"You don't need to worry about him," Dorbickmon snorted. "Even though I didn't know how to work the thing, UlforceVeedramon knew not only enough to use it, but enough so to give me an unwanted history lesson on its creation and development."

UlforceVeedramon chuckled. "Sorry about that, Dorbickmon," he apologized. "Anyways, WarStardramon should be physically fine in a couple of hours. That wound that Magnamon gave him wasn't very deep, but he still lost a large amount of blood, so it'll take longer than usual to recover from that kind of injury and blood loss."

"Physically?" Craniamon repeated, catching the hidden meaning of UlforceVeedramon words. "What else is wrong with him?"

UlforceVeedramon sighed and pointed over to the nearby medical pod behind Dorbickmon. WarStardramon had been encased inside, and the pod had filled up with a light blue liquid which speeds up the regenerative properties of cells. WarStardramon had an oxygen mask attached to his face to allow him to breathe in the liquid substance. Blood still leaked from the exposed gash in his head into the liquid, which was instantly filtered out by the pod, but the flow had noticeably slowed.

"Physically, he should be fine, but I'm worried about his mental health the most," UlforceVeedramon informed everyone. "The scanner in the medical pod showed Dorbickmon and I that the front of his brain was damaged after his head was slammed on the table. He most likely received a concussion, and once he wakes up, he could be completely normal, completely insane, or with no memories at all again. And the odds of him being completely normal once he has awakened are extremely slim."

"What?!" Omnimon exclaimed, getting on his feet. "Why didn't you tell us this before?! We could have been better prepared to help him recover from this if we had been informed!"

Dorbickmon shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, but from my understanding of the little medical research I've done for military purposes, it's nigh impossible to recover from that kind of damage."

"Dorbickmon is right," UlforceVeedramon confirmed as Omnimon and several other Digimon turned to look at him for confirmation. "If he does wake up with any mental problems, the injury will be too severe for any kind of treatment to help him recover from it. All we can do now is hope for the best."

"But the odds of that are…!" Omnimon brought his fists down onto the table, which splintered a little more. "Damn it!" he swore.

"Omnimon, please control yourself," Gallantmon told him. Gallantmon turned to Magnamon. "I'm surprised, Magnamon. WarStardramon was right about DarkEquistedramon not using his own body like he was, but the strength you displayed while you were being controlled was astonishing."

Magnamon shrugged, feeling slightly guilty. "I was barely aware of what was happening at the time, but I didn't know I had that much strength myself," he admitted. "I'm even thinking that it wasn't my strength to begin with after I was possessed at all; I think DarkEquistedramon might have sent me some power to use for himself once he had possessed me, but that feeling of power is gone now."

"What I want to know, Magnamon," Imperialdramon growled, "is when did you get stuck with that scale?"

"I've happened to realize that Magnamon started to act really irritated right after the Server Tree had been destroyed," Crusadermon piped up.

Magnamon nodded in agreement. "You're right, Crusadermon," he said. "I had forgotten about this, but right after DarkEquistedramon first appeared and launched his attack, he came up behind me and punched me in the back as I was falling. I guess that was actually him jabbing the scale into my back. Now that I think about it, I remember feeling annoyed directly afterwards."

"That just proves what Omnimon said a moment ago," King Drasil spoke. "We all need to be more careful around DarkEquistedramon whenever he shows up and keep our distance from him so that he doesn't get the opportunity to place one of his scales on us. We cannot risk having one of us turn against another in the middle of a battle with him- we need all the strength we possess to keep him at bay and defeat him."

"But what can we do now, since we don't know where he is or what he's planning?" Dynasmon wondered out loud. "We have nothing to go on!"

Just then, everyone heard the elevator doors open, and all of them turned towards the tunnel to see who was coming. A moment later, a ShineGreymon entered the room.

"Omnimon, sir," he called once he reached the table. He got down on one knee and bowed. "The request you asked of me several days ago has been fruitful."

"Excellent," Omnimon commented. "You can rise; there was no need to bow to me."

"Yes, Omnimon," ShineGreymon responded. But once he had risen, an unexpected visitor popped into view from behind ShineGreymon's head.

"It was a Darkdramon and a Devidramon that tried to make the run for it," Shoutmon announced to a startled group of Digimon.

"Shoutmon!" UlforceVeedramon scolded, irritated. "I thought I told you not to come in here this morning! We don't need so many Digimon knowing about our discussions!"

"Let him be, it will be fine," Omnimon assured him, holding out a hand to cut of UlforceVeedramon. "Shoutmon has already been deeply involved in this affair with Equistedramon; we can't keep him in the dark about our plans now."

"Shoutmon was actually a big help in capturing the runaways," ShineGreymon put in.

"Oh?" Dorbickmon looked at Shoutmon with interest. "What did that annoying pipsqueak manage to do to help?"

"Humph!" Shoutmon raised his head high and thumped his chest. "I caught Devidramon all by myself."

"If by yourself, you mean catching Devidramon's tail and holding onto a tree branch until someone showed up to actually restrain him," ShineGreymon corrected. Shoutmon froze and fell off of ShineGreymon's shoulder in embarrassment, hitting the floor with a _thud_.

Many of the Digimon around the table, including King Drasil, laughed out loud. "Oh, you can always count on Shoutmon's clowning around to lighten the mood," UlforceVeedramon got out, wiping his eye. "His antics are hilarious!" UlforceVeedramon stopped laughing and took a closer look at ShineGreymon. "Hey, aren't you the ShineGreymon from…?"

"Yep, this is him!" Shoutmon announced, jumping to his feet and brushing himself off. "This is the ShineGreymon that Equistedramon fought at the DragonForce Army's Recruitment Center! Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"Oh, so it _is_ you!" Imperialdramon cried out. "I thought I recognized your scent, Officer ShineGreymon! So you've already recovered from your roll down the side of the volcano? I'm sorry about the whole incident- Dorbickmon had no right to make you fight at the Recruitment Center?"

"My bad," Dorbickmon muttered.

"Its fine," ShineGreymon laughed. "I needed it anyways- I was too high up on my high horse that day, so to speak. Anyways, we got all of the information they had out of them; in fact, we didn't even need to touch them to get it: they had it all written down." He held up a small scroll of parchment. "I'll read what it says." ShineGreymon unfurled the parchment and began to read it. " _WarStardramon has been rendered unfit for battle. Plan to recruit more members compromised. Proceed with plans to destroy the Temple of Light and annihilate the Dragon God Digimon._ "

The time and date of the message followed.

"What you said about there possibly being spies among the DragonForce Army members was accurate," ShineGreymon said to a shocked Omnimon. "DarkEquistedramon has been keeping spies in our ranks to keep tabs on everything."

"Were you even _listening_ to yourself?!" UlforceVeedramon yelped. "DarkEquistedramon is planning on attacking the Temple of Light! If that place is destroyed, then the Digital World as we know it will be drastically changed forever!"

"I've already read it," ShineGreymon stated simply.

"But what was that bit at the very end of the message?" Crusadermon mused. "I've never heard of anything of a Dragon God Digimon in my life."

"I haven't heard of anything like that, either," Dorbickmon commented. "I wonder what this is all about."

Suddenly, there was a loud _crash_ , followed by a loud beeping noise, and everyone turned to see that WarStardramon's fist was protruding from the broken glass dome of the medical pod.

"WarStardramon!" Dynasmon screeched as the healing substance poured out of the broken glass. More of it came out when WarStardramon forced the door open and clambered out. "What in the world do you think you're doing?! Have you finally lost it?!"

"He actually might have lost it," Dorbickmon muttered to Imperialdramon. Imperialdramon glared at the former and Dorbickmon fell silent.

"WarStardramon, listen to us," Omnimon said, getting to his feet and approaching WarStardramon hesitantly. "Let's get you back in the medical pod; you're not anywhere near fully recovered- you're still bleeding…. You do know who's talking to you… right?"

"Omnimon," WarStardramon responded. He found some bandages on a nearby table and started to wrap them around his head. "Omnimon," WarStardramon repeated, speaking to himself. He finished wrapping his head with the bandages and turned to look at Omnimon, but his eyes weren't focused on anything. "That word keeps crossing my mind, but I don't know what it means." His eyes finally focused on Omnimon. "Who are you? Do you think you can help me out?"

"No," Omnimon whispered, falling to his hands and knees in despair, staring at the ground.

There was silence for a few moments, then WarStardramon spoke again. "Wow. That was too easy. Gotcha, Omnimon!"

"Huh?" Omnimon looked up to see that WarStardramon's eyes were completely filled with amusement.

"The look you had on your face a moment ago- it was priceless!" WarStardramon started to laugh. "I'm sorry, but I just had to take advantage of the situation! Your reaction was totally worth it!"

Fuming, Omnimon got up and approached WarStardramon. Raising his hand, he brought his fist down hard on top of WarStardramon's head, knocking WarStardramon to the ground.

"Ow!" WarStardramon groaned, clutching his head. "Are you trying to give me another brain injury? That actually hurt for once!"

 _Damn._ UlforceVeedramon thought as WarStardramon got unsteadily to his feet. Omnimon looked like he had no intention to offer him support, his arms crossed over his chest. _Omnimon rarely loses his cool like that, and he hit WarStardramon so hard that he fell to the floor. I'll grant him that WarStardramon isn't at full strength, but when Magnamon hit him earlier before he was completely possessed, he didn't even move. That just goes to show why Omnimon is the leader of the Royal Knights._

"I take it that you have not received any mental damage from your brain injury?" King Drasil inquired calmly, not shaken from the sudden recent events.

"Oh, far from it, my king," WarStardramon answered once he had regained his balance. "In fact, it has helped me more than I could have imagined."

"Oh? How so?"

WarStardramon turned his back to everyone. "I've regained all of my memories," he announced. "More importantly, I've remembered my purpose."

"It is my duty, as well as Equistedramon's, to protect the Dragon Lord," he told his shocked audience. "As two members of the Dragon Lord's elite knights, the Dragon's Warriors, it is our duty, and purpose, to protect and serve the king with a power much greater than that of King Drasil's."


	3. Part Two: The Power to Protect

Part Three

The Power to Protect

"W-what are you saying, WarStardramon?" Dynasmon stammered. "What do you mean... that you and Equistedramon are knights for the Dragon God Digimon?"

"It is as I said," WarStardramon answered, his back still facing the others. "Equistedramon and I are two of the three warriors that serve and protect the Dragon God Digimon, a being with power much greater than King Drasil's. We are part of the Dragon's Warriors."

"All three of us warriors used to be human," WarStardramon went on, to the shock of the listeners. "Each of us had a miserable life as a human, but the Dragon God Digimon came to each of us to offer us a chance to start over. He told us we each had huge amounts of potential for humans, so he said he would take us away from our suffering if we helped him. It wasn't really a hard choice; we all gladly threw away our humanity to help serve that Dragon Digimon as Digimon ourselves. None of us have any regrets in that choice."

"Each one of us represents a different aspect of power. I represent the Alpha, with the power for new evolution. Equistedramon represents the Omega, with the power to bring things to their end..."

Omnimon twitched violently at this information.

"...and our third member, Quasardramon, who has been gone on a mission for the Dragon God Digimon for quite some time, represents the power of Delta, with the power to influence and control the souls of any object. I know what you're all thinking," he added as Omnimon opened his mouth to speak, "but every object in the world, not just living things, have a soul, no matter how small."

None of the listeners spoke as the waited for WarStardramon to continue.

"Each of us owe the Dragon God Digimon our lives because he saved us from the darkness in our human lives," WarStardramon continued. "So we do everything in our power to serve him. We're willing to lay down our lives for him if necessary."

"Our most recent task from our god has been to take out Antidramon and his followers."

"Antidramon?" Imperialdramon echoed. "I've never heard of anything like that before."

"Antidramon is a Darkness Dragon Digimon who wants to change the Digital World to how he sees fit," WarStardramon explained, finally turning around to face everyone. "However, he cannot do that as long as the Temple of Light stands. I'm sure most of you know this, but the Temple of Light, which is directed by Lord Seraphimon and Lady Ophanimon, is used to control the flow of energy between the Human and Digital worlds. If the temple and the Digimon inside it are destroyed, then the energy flow will die out, and the two worlds will become a barren, desolate wasteland. That's the kind of world where Antidramon's powers will be amplified many times over, and then no one will be able to stop him."

"The Dragon God Digimon knew of his plans, so he sent each of us three knights on a different quest. Quasardramon was given the most difficult task: to find a weakness in Antidramon's power and become able to exploit it. He was sent on his quest long before Equistedramon and I were assigned ours, and we haven't heard a word of him since."

"Equistedramon was given the job to create a large force to help combat Antidramon's vast army..."

"So _that_ was the reason why he started the DragonForce Army," Dorbickmon muttered.

"...and I was given the mission to grow in my own power," WarStardramon finished. "I was the only Ultimate level Dragon Digimon in the Dragon's Power Trio, yet my strength was still greater than the average Mega Digimon, but Equistedramon has always by far been the strongest, since he is the Omega representative in our group. I'm at least six times stronger than when I first met all of you at my current level, but he's still... oh, I say, about four times stronger than me, and roughly twice as strong as Quasardramon, if he decided to go all out. You guys were lucky to befriend him instead of getting on his nerves; otherwise, he could have destroyed all of you in one shot, and you'll be unable to even revert back into a Digi-egg."

"Dear lord..." Gallantmon's voice broke off.

"How can any Digimon have that much power?!" Crusadermon demanded.

"You Digimon hadn't even begun to witness Equistedramon's true power," WarStardramon told them, a strange glint in his eyes. "He could destroy this whole planet in one shot if he wanted to try. Both Quasardramon and Equistedramon are Super-Ultimate Digimon, but I was just an Ultimate, and yet my power was still comparable to theirs. If I happened to reach the Super-Ultimate level, how much power do you think I'd possess?"

The silence went on unbroken as everyone mulled over this thought. _This information is almost too hard to believe._ Omnimon thought. _If what WarStardramon is saying is true... then the Royal Knights have long since been overpowered by just three Dragon Digimon._

"This is all some near-unbelievable information that you have shared," King Drasil spoke up, voicing some of Omnimon's thoughts and breaking the silence. "But I don't doubt you, not with all of this information that only a few Digimon have access to. I still find it hard to believe that this problem is major enough for the Dragon God Digimon to actually send out his most elite warriors, though. I haven't heard from him in ages."

"Whoa, hold on, back up!" Shoutmon cried. "You mean you _know_ this Dragon God Digimon?!"

"Of course I do," King Drasil answered, looking down at Shoutmon in mild surprise. "I know about all of the Digimon who have authority higher than mine, and Godramon and his elite knights are the only Digimon in positions above mine in this world."

"Huh, that's a surprise," WarStardramon noted, looking at King Drasil. "I wasn't aware that you knew the Dragon God's name. Only a select few know that."

"Indeed, I do," King Drasil nodded. "He and I used to be close friends, but when he was appointed to that position, our connection slowly broke off. I haven't seen him in millennia."

"But why is it so important to protect the Temple of Light and Godramon?" Shoutmon asked.

WarStardramon sighed. "Didn't I already tell you that, Shoutmon?" he grumbled. "Were you even listening to me earlier? As I've already told you, if the Temple of Light is destroyed, along with the Digimon maintaining it, the land of the Digital World and the Human World will become a barren wasteland as the transfer of energy between the two will be halted. But, to answer your other question, if Godramon goes down, then life as we know it will disappear."

There was another shocked silence. "You didn't tell us _that_ before," Magnamon hissed.

"Is this true, King Drasil?" Imperialdramon questioned.

King Drasil brought his hands down on the table and sighed. "Yes, unfortunately, it is," he responded. "The Temple of Light is the reason for the _flow_ of the energy, but Godramon is the _source_ of the energy. All life is supported by an energy called Dragonforce- the energy of the legendary dragons is the reason for life existing itself. That's why all Dragon Digimon are among the strongest Digimon around: they always have a constant energy source for their power, even if only a few Digimon actually know about it. In a similar way, all Dragon Digimon are descendants of Godramon; Godramon was the first Dragon Digimon in existence. If any Dragon Digimon even gets near Godramon, their power would be instantly and permanently multiplied many times over."

"Geez, just how old are you, King Drasil?" Shoutmon asked.

"But when Godramon first hatched, there was a second baby Digimon in the same Digi-egg," WarStardramon picked up where King Drasil had left off, ignoring Shoutmon's comment. King Drasil, however, had heard Shoutmon's comment and was staring at Shoutmon, who instantly broke into a cold sweat. "Godramon's twin eventually became what we know today as Antidramon, and his sole purpose is to ruin the two worlds and take Godramon's position as the Absolute Emperor. Antidramon's even gone as far as creating a clone of Equistedramon, who happens to be Godramon's strongest follower. I think you all know who I'm referring to."

"DarkEquistedramon!" Dorbickmon spat, slamming his fist on the table. The table didn't even vibrate.

"That's right," WarStardramon nodded. "Using DarkEquistedramon, Antidramon's been able to ruin almost all of our missions. It was him who tipped off that human Kurata where he could find some Digimon strong enough for his cruel experiments, so that got Equistedramon and I separated and caused Equistedramon to lose his memories. Shortly after that, he chased me down and knocked me out cold with a hit to the head. He proceeded to trapped me in a separate dimension where time hardly moved at all, so I was unable to progress with my growth. I'm not even an hour older than I was five years ago, and by that time, we had already not heard from or of Quasardramon for quite some time, so we still don't know how he's faring at the moment.

Eventually, the dimension I was trapped in shattered when Equistedramon fatally injured DarkEquistedramon and they both fell into the Digital Gate. I was released, but I lost my memories as well in the process, and ended up in the Human World in my human form. I can only guess that I ended up there because the dimension I was trapped in was somewhat linked closer to the Human World than the Digital World. That's where I regained my Digimon powers and met up with you."

"Now that I've mostly completed my mission, it's time for me to move on to something more important: finding Equistedramon. Both he and DarkEquistedramon fell into the Digital Gate, but only DarkEquistedramon has returned. We can't beat DarkEquistedramon without Equistedramon- DarkEquistedramon is far too strong for anyone except for Godramon to handle now without Equistedramon, and we cannot risk Godramon's health and safety. I know that you Digimon have already been planning to find Equistedramon, but I need to do this on my own, so I'm asking you to back off and start raising your defenses, because I can sense that an all-out battle is about to break out between the forces of dark and light. I can't fight at my fullest if I have to worry about you."

"You can't be serious!" Omnimon shouted. He marched over to WarStardramon, grabbed his shoulders, and forced him to turn and look him in the eye. "After everything we've gone through, surely you can't be asking us to stop now! We're all now involved in this, and we are going to see this through to the end, no matter what!"

"I cannot allow that," WarStardramon murmured, avoiding Omnimon's eyes.

"And why not?!" Omnimon yelled, shaking WarStardramon's shoulders. "Equistedramon is a friend to all of us- we can't just sit here doing nothing while he's out risking his very existence to save the two worlds!"

"Omnimon!" King Drasil suddenly snapped, his voice cutting through the air like a knife. Everyone in the room instantly froze, then turned to look at the king.

"I hate to say this, but WarStardramon is right," King Drasil admitted. "None of us have the power to help Godramon in this situation. We can't risk losing anyone if Godramon's forces happen to fail; we'll need everyone we can get to even stand a chance at survival if that happens. I also cannot overrule WarStardramon's decision- I've already said that he and the rest of the Dragon's Warriors, as well as Godramon, have greater authority than I do. What they say is final."

Omnimon looked down to the floor, visibly trembling with anger. "Damn it all!" he finally swore, releasing WarStardramon's shoulders and staring at his fists in front of him. "Is there anything we _can_ do?! What's the point of the Royal Knights if we can't even protect what we care about?! We're useless!"

WarStardramon gazed at Omnimon for a few moments. "Omnimon," he said quietly. "I don't think you've noticed, but if the Dragon's Warriors and Godramon falls, _you're_ the last hope for both worlds."

"What?" Omnimon looked up sharply at WarStardramon. "What do you mean by that?"

"Omnimon, you should know better than any of us that you're also called Omegamon in other languages," WarStardramon told him. "You came into contact with Equistedramon, who is the being who embodies the power of Omega."

Everyone was quiet as they listened intently for what WarStardramon was about to tell them.

"You fought an extremely close battle with Equistedramon when he thought he was going all out at the time. You also forged a very close bond with Equistedramon in the short time span of a little less than a week. It so happens that, through your experiences with Equistedramon, some of Equistedramon's power has leaked into your own reservoirs of strength, which then untapped all of the hidden potential your digital mainframe locked up when you first DNA Digivolved from WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, because all of that power you possess would have normally torn your body apart if you somehow managed to tap into it on your own. But your body is now strong enough to handle that power because of the program Equistedramon created for you to give you your hands. Intentionally or not, Equistedramon gave you access to a power that's on par to that of his own. In addition, the little bit of data that you absorbed from Equistedramon has made you a member of the Dragon's Roar family, making you count as a Dragon Digimon. You now have greater access to the Dragonforce energy, as well."

"A-are you sure about that?" Omnimon stuttered. "How do you know that I have that much power?"

WarStardramon raised a finger. "Let me give you an example, then. Earlier, when Magnamon slapped me, I didn't even move."

Magnamon coughed as a few pairs of eyes fell on him.

"But after I got out of the medical pod and tricked you, you were able to knock me to the floor with just one hit. My head may be a little worse for wear at the moment, but not the rest of my body. There have also been several more examples in the past few hours that I'm sure you noticed, like you cracking the table while Dorbickmon couldn't even make it vibrate. You're much stronger than anyone could even imagine now."

"That's why I'm asking you to stay here. If my group happens to lose this upcoming battle, you'll be the last line of defense for the two worlds if we fail."

Omnimon looked down to the floor again.

"Omnimon..." Gallantmon started.

"I can't!" Omnimon suddenly snapped, startling everyone. "I just can't! I can't leave one of my closest friends alone in a fight to protect everything we know!"

"Omnimon!" King Drasil called again. He rose to his feet. "Equistedramon knows what he's doing, and he won't be alone; he'll have all of his old comrades by his side. You can and you will stand down and obey WarStardramon's orders!"

There was another silence for a few seconds. "Omnimon," WarStardramon repeated. "Are you sure you're willing to risk your life to help Equistedramon and the rest of us who serve Godramon to fight Antidramon?"

"That's shouldn't even be a question," Omnimon growled without hesitating, curling his fists tighter. "I'll go the extra mile to help Equistedramon in any way."

 _I've never seen Omnimon so worked up like this_ _before_. Craniamon said silently. _This situation must mean very much to him if he's acting like this._

"Very well," WarStardramon finally conceded. "If you feel so strongly about this, then I have no right to ask you to stay here. But he's the only one who's coming with me," he added, directed at the rest on the onlookers. "Everyone else is to stay here and prepare for the worst."

"Hey, what about me?!" Shoutmon called out angrily. "I'm the one outside of Godramon's forces who's known Equistedramon the longest! I can't sit here and do nothing, either!"

" _You_ want to go and help out in this kind of battle?" Dorbickmon snorted in disbelief. "If you're asking for a death wish, I think that going into this battle is the best way to fulfill that wish."

"You don't have any room to be talking, Dorbickmon," WarStardramon interrupted as Shoutmon glared daggers at Dorbickmon. "Shoutmon does have a point: he's been around Equistedramon longer than the rest of you. On top of that, he's also a Dragon Digimon; now that I look at him, I can tell that he's been more influenced by Equistedramon than any other Digimon I've ever seen. He's much stronger than you are, Dorbickmon, so I would prefer if you stayed quiet so as to not make a fool of yourself anymore."

"What?! You have got to be kidding me!" Dorbickmon hissed, staring back and forth between Shoutmon and WarStardramon in shock. "You mean that _pipsqueak_ has that kind of power?!"

Shoutmon stomped his feet in fury. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!?" he yelled. There was an unexpected bright flash of light that blinded everyone momentarily, and when everyone was able to see again, they all saw that Shoutmon had Digivolved back into OmniShoutmon.

"See what I mean?" WarStardramon queried while about everyone started to congratulate OmniShoutmon on his progress. "Shoutmon doesn't even need the Fusion Loader to Digivolve now. In fact, I think he's ready for the next stage. An OmniShoutmon's power also derives slightly from that of an Omnimon's, since a Shoutmon can't Digivolve until after they've come in contact with an Omnimon, so he might be influenced by Equistedramon's Omega power, as well. The armor covering his body is also the Omega inForce, so that's another bonus. This calls for a change in plans: OmniShoutmon is coming along with myself and Omnimon, as well."

"Well, whatever the facts may be, what are the plans for us now?" King Drasil questioned WarStardramon.

WarStardramon didn't skip a beat. "OmniShoutmon, Omnimon, and I will head out to find Equistedramon shortly," he responded instantly. "All non-Dragon Digimon should start stockpiling supplies for the long run. And ShineGreymon," he added, directing his attention to ShineGreymon, who had stepped back from the other Digimon and hadn't taken part in the conversation, "please send out a message to all Dragon Digimon to stop whatever they're doing, get something to eat and drink, and sit somewhere comfortable outside."

"Wait, why is this necessary?" Imperialdramon intervened. "What will that accomplish?"

"Tell them to clear their minds and focus on the ground beneath them," WarStardramon went on, ignoring Imperialdramon. "That's when they should start to feel something. Tell them to try and maintain that feeling for at least an hour straight, and if they lose the connection before the hour is up, then they're to start all over again. They are not to get up or do something else until the hour is up, not even to eat or drink, or else their strength will be greatly diminished. If they manage to do so, however, their strength will be greatly multiplied."

ShineGreymon lowered his head in understanding. "I presume that this is to help them strengthen their connection with the Dragonforce in the land?" he asked.

"That's correct," WarStardramon answered, pleased with ShineGreymon's understanding. "You're a sharp one; I think we'll be able to count on you in the near future. That message also goes for you, as well."

"Understood, sir. I'll take my leave now." And with that, ShineGreymon departed.

"The rest of you might as well try to focus on the Dragonforce, except for King Drasil, of course" WarStardramon decided out loud, turning to face everyone still sitting at the table. "Even if you're not Dragon Digimon, every living thing is still connected to the Dragonforce flowing through the land, though the connection is nowhere near as strong as it is for us dragons. Then you should start preparing for the battle and building up your defenses. Even though he had lost his memories, Equistedramon must have known that many different Digimon were going to need to take shelter somewhere at some point. I have to admit- I would have never thought of hollowing out a mountain; it's a brilliant idea."

"Wait, how are you even going to find Equistedramon?" Magnamon queried. "We don't have a single clue on where he could be."

"I told you yesterday, didn't I?" WarStardramon raised his hand at eye level, and a blue and white ball of energy flickered into existence.

"I can sense and control the aura around me, remember?" WarStardramon reminded them as the ball of light faded. "I'll just search for Equistedramon's aura, plain and simple."

"OmniShoutmon, Omnimon, are the two of you ready?"

"What? Already?" OmniShoutmon groaned.

"I'm ready any time, WarStardramon," Omnimon replied resolutely.

OmniShoutmon sighed. "Then I guess I'm ready, too," he said.

"Alright, everyone!" WarStardramon raised his fist into the air. "Let's all do our best to protect what we care for!"

The resulting cheers resonated through the air so much that the damaged table final fell apart from the vibrations.

ΩΩΩ

 _And the long road to victory at last begins._ WarStardramon thought when he walked through the waterfall and sat down in the water in front of it, the light from the setting sun reflecting off the water around him.

It had been two days since he had recovered his memories, and they journey to find Equistedramon had started late in the evening last night. Even though he had said that he, Omnimon, and OmniShoutmon would be leaving right away, they had been delayed so that they could stockpile for the trip and so that WarStardramon could repair the medical pod that he had damaged in his attempt to break out of it. Not only did he have to replace the broken glass dome, but he had stripped several gears and the lock mechanism when he forced to pod door to open, so he had to take most of the medical pod apart before he could fix it.

"I'm surprised that you knew how to fix it to this extent," UlforceVeedramon had remarked when he replaced the last screw in the panel that hid the inner workings of the pod from view. He had stayed with WarStardramon to help repair the machine, but his help hadn't been needed, so he stayed to keep WarStardramon some company.

"The wiring and inner workings of this medical pod are actually very similar to most of the machines that I've worked on and repaired in the past," he told UlforceVeedramon. "I got a decent amount of hands-on experience working on machines while helping my father in his workshop." He sighed. "Although I enjoyed the work, the time with my father and the rest of my family wasn't pleasant. By the time I was eighteen years old, I was ready to kick the bucket, and I would have if Godramon hadn't shown up and offered me a chance to cut my ties and leave with him. I've never made such a good decision in my life, in my opinion."

"So your family was rough on you, huh?" UlforceVeedramon noted.

"They were worse than you could imagine," WarStardramon responded darkly. "I don't miss them at all, and I couldn't care less if DarkEquistedramon or someone else took care of them. All three of the knights in the Dragon's Warriors came from similar backgrounds; we had all given up on humanity. And yet here we are, fighting to protect what we had abandoned. The irony of it all kills me."

"I can't believe you wouldn't care if DarkEquistedramon killed them," UlforceVeedramon had commented.

 _He should believe it._ WarStardramon said silently as he settled into a more comfortable position. _My life as a human was a living hell._

"WarStardramon," spoke a voice from behind him. WarStardramon turned to see Omnimon step out from inside the waterfall, soaking wet and without his cape.

"You've already finished your meditation?" WarStardramon questioned, surprised. "Wow, color me impressed. I thought it would be at least another half hour before you finished your hour of straight connection with the Dragonforce. I've never met anyone before who had such a clear mind. It took me two hours my first time, and I was always the best out of the Dragon's Warriors' fighters, but it only took you an hour and a half on your first try. You should be proud."

"Thank you," Omnimon said, dipping his head. He sloshed through the water and onto shore, where he picked up his cape and fastened it to hi armor. "May I ask why we had to meditate _inside_ a waterfall? If you ask me, it made it much harder to concentrate on the Dragonforce energy."

"Very perceptive, Omnimon," WarStardramon praised. "That's the whole point to meditate in there: it's to build a stronger connection with the Dragonforce energy. This will make connecting to it much easier for the two of you in the long run; it requires a huge amount of concentration to focus on it in something like a waterfall. By the way, I'm surprised that neither you nor OmniShoutmon questioned me when I decided that we should retire from a travels so early in the afternoon to get the two of you connected to the Dragonforce energy as well."

"Well, you seem to know much more about the situation than anybody else, so OmniShoutmon and I have agreed to not question your motives or choices."

"Speaking of OmniShoutmon, where is he?" WarStardramon questioned. He looked over his shoulder at the waterfall. "Is he still in there?"

"Indeed," Omnimon responded, finding a sunny spot on the shore and lying down to dry off. "OmniShoutmon becomes much more serious in demeanor after he Digivolves, but that doesn't seem to be helping him at the moment. I'd give him at least another forty-five minutes before he finishes his hour."

WarStardramon grunted. "I bet you a year's worth of Digibytes that it'll be at least another hour before he's done; I can sense that he just lost connection with the Dragonforce."

Right on que, they heard OmniShoutmon yell with frustration from behind the waterfall.

"This looks like a bet that I'm not willing to shake on," Omnimon remarked.

WarStardramon laughed. "Yeah, I wouldn't agree on the bet now if I were you, either! Wouldn't want to lose a year's worth of Digibytes, would you?"

Both of them laughed for a bit.

"Alright, it's time for me to get back to work now," WarStardramon mumbled as he closed his eyes and raised his right hand to his head. He placed two fingertips on his forehead and took a deep breath.

"Are you meditating again?" Omnimon queried, puzzled. "And what's up with that hand positioning? You already finished your hour of connection with the Dragonforce a while ago, so why are you doing it again?"

"I'm not doing that," WarStardramon replied in a deep monotone, sounding perfectly at ease. "I'm trying to sense out Equistedramon's aura. His aura is unlike any other I've come across- it's a pure gold light that shines with absolute power. If Equistedramon is anywhere within a five hundred mile radius from this spot, I'll be able to easily pick him out, no matter what's surrounding him."

"You can sense him within that large of a distance?" Omnimon inquired, amazed. "That's incredible, WarStardramon!"

"Yeah, well, if it was anyone else that I was trying to find, I would only be able to search them out in a three hundred mile radius," WarStardramon grumbled. "It's Equistedramon's aura that allows me to search for him over such a large area, since it's so bright and powerful. I'm about to get started, Omnimon, so I would appreciate it if I could have some quiet while I'm searching. It will take me a while to search the whole area."

Omnimon nodded. "Good luck," he called as WarStardramon became completely still. As the minutes dragged by, Omnimon finished drying off. He got to his feet and turned to the forest lying alongside the river, then looked over his shoulder at WarStardramon. WarStardramon had told him the day before that he would be unable to move while searching out Equistedramon's aura, so he would be completely susceptible to enemy attacks while in this state. Searching out a certain aura requires him to cut off all of his other senses to do so, so he only went into this state while someone he trust is keeping an eye on him.

 _I'm not going far, WarStardramon_. Omnimon mentally promised. _I'm only going into the edge of the forest to look for some firewood_.

However, it would soon become apparent that Omnimon made an unwise choice at leaving WarStardramon alone, because shortly after leaving, there was a loud crashing sound, and the ground shook.

"WarStardramon! OmniShoutmon!" Omnimon hollered, releasing the firewood he had already amassed and racing back to the waterfall. When he had arrived, an insane sight greeted his eyes.

WarStardramon was exactly where he had left him, not moving in his position. But what was insane was the fact that at least a half a dozen Megidramon and Megadramon were in the air above WarStardramon trapped inside transparent orbs of a soft, blue light. They were visibly struggling to break through the barriers holding them captive, but to no avail.

Omnimon barely saw the invisible shock wave that expanded outwards from WarStardramon; the only evidence that one was there was the background warped slightly when the shock wave passed.

Without warning, the six orbs that trapped the Megidramon and Megadramon suddenly flew at each other right above WarStardramon's head. When the orbs touched each another, there was a terrific explosion that rocked the air, and Omnimon saw the dragons blown out of the cloud of smoke and fly off in different directions, noticeably harmed from the blast.

WarStardramon sighed and continued to sit still in the river in front of the waterfall.

 _He must have been using aura to fend off the cretins._ Omnimon realized after WarStardramon's breathing slowed as he sunk deeper into his meditative state. _WarStardramon managed to attack…without attacking!_

A little more than an hour later, when the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, Omnimon, sitting near the large bonfire he had created, heard something sloshing through the water. He whirled around, his left hand turning into the MetalGarurumon head and opening its mouth to extend the cannon, only to see OmniShoutmon splashing up onto the bank.

"Woah, don't shoot! Don't shoot!" OmniShoutmon yelped, raising both hands in the air. "It's me, Omnimon!"

"I can see that," Omnimon said, lowering his cannon, which reverted back to his hand. "So you finally finished your hour of connection with Dragonforce?"

"Yeah, and it was a lot hard than I thought it was going to be," OmniShoutmon admitted as he and Omnimon sat down around the bonfire. "It's irritating that both you and WarStardramon finished so much sooner than I did."

"Well, I just have talent…" OmniShoutmon glared at Omnimon, "…and WarStardramon has been doing it ever since he came to this world, which has to be at least ten years ago, based on the fact that both he and Equistedramon were sent out on their missions from Godramon at the same time and Equistedramon founded the DragonForce Army ten years ago… wow, I just realized where the DragonForce Army got its name."

"You're just now realizing that?" OmniShoutmon questioned, becoming smug. "I've known that since yesterday after WarStardramon told us everything. Speaking of which," he added, ignoring Omnimon's intense stare and looking over his shoulder at WarStardramon, who hadn't moved an inch ever since the Megidramon and Megadramon attack, "what is WarStardramon doing? Don't tell me he's trying to see how long he can hold the connection with the Dragonforce energy?"

"Oh, it's nothing like that," Omnimon informed him, relaxing. "He's just searching out Equistedramon's aura. As long as Equistedramon is within five hundred miles of here, he'll be able to search him out."

Since both of them were staring at WarStardramon, it slightly shocked them when WarStardramon opened his eyes and unexpectedly stood up, staring off in the distance.

"I don't believe it…" they heard WarStardramon mumble.

"WarStardramon?" Omnimon called, concerned. "Is something wrong? Or did you find Equistedramon?"

WarStardramon looked over towards the shore at them. "Both," he answered. "I found Equistedramon's aura, but something's not right about it. His aura is dimmer for some reason. And he's not moving an inch; not even breathing."

"Where is he?" OmniShoutmon inquired.

WarStardramon looked them both in the eye. "The Temple of Light."

ΩΩΩ

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" OmniShoutmon asked when WarStardramon joined him and Omnimon at the fireside. "Let's go to Equistedramon!"

"No, OmniShoutmon, that's not what we're doing," Omnimon told him, shaking his head. "Isn't that right, WarStardramon?"

"Omnimon's right," WarStardramon confirmed when OmniShoutmon turned to look at him for answers. "It's too late in the night to travel safely, even if we were flying. And I doubt that Equistedramon is in any danger while he's at the Temple of Light. He just might be injured- that might explain why his aura is dim- but that doesn't fit why he's not moving a muscle, not even to breath. There's also three other auras in a similar condition to that of Equistedramon's that are very close to his aura: a red aura, a blue aura, and a pink aura."

"We might as well wait until the morning to head out the Temple of Light," Omnimon continued. "We'll need as much rest as possible; who knows what we'll run into once we get there."

WarStardramon pulled a large knapsack out of a pile of three and placed it in front of him. "I'm glad that Equistedramon had thought of gathering food inside Dragonspiral Mountain- even with all of the DragonForce Army and Royal Knights troops stationed there, there's enough food to feed every single Digimon there for several months."

"I don't think we were ever planning on there being two different armies setting up headquarters there when we were gathering food," OmniShoutmon told him, drawing his own knapsack near him. "We didn't go out every day gathering food; if we knew how many Digimon were actually going to set home base there, we would have gathered plenty of food to last a long time."

"Equistedramon and your group, OmniShoutmon, were the only ones living in the mountain for such a long time that I'm not surprised that you weren't thinking there would be thousands of Digimon holed up in and around Dragonspiral Mountain," Omnimon said as he dragged the last knapsack towards him. "Knowing Equistedramon, I'm actually not surprised that there were dozens of sheltered hide-outs in the general vicinity of the mountain with their own food and water supply; it gave the rest of the Digimon who couldn't stay in the mountain a place to stay. I'm shocked that none of us Royal Knights and our King Drasil ever noticed what was going on so close to the Server Tree- you would think we would know what was going on in the surround area of our home."

"But, at the very least…" WarStardramon opened his bag and pulled out a box of Digibytes, OmniShoutmon pulled out some pre-cooked Meat Apples from his bag, and Omnimon also brought out a box of Digibytes from the innards of his back, "…let's thank Equistedramon for the grub!"

"Thanks for the grub!" OmniShoutmon and Omnimon thanked simultaneously. All three of them dug into their meals at the same time.

Half an hour later, OmniShoutmon, who had once again overeaten, was out cold, snoring hard. Omnimon and WarStardramon remained awake and were staring into the fire, a companionable silence between the two of them.

"WarStardramon," Omnimon began, "I thought you said that you would be completely helpless against attacks while searching out aura. Then tell me how you were able to fend off the Megidramons' and Megadramons' attacks?"

"Oh, you saw that?" WarStardramon queried, looking over at Omnimon. "Well… I honestly never tried to attack with aura before, I never have the time to sit down and meditate long enough to get that focused in on the aura in and around me. What happened earlier was the first time for me. I knew that my aura controlling capabilities had grown when I Digivolved, but not to that extent. I guess I can defend myself whenever I need to now, and it's thanks to you, Omnimon."

"How is it my thanks to take?" Omnimon asked, confused.

"You were the one who first brought me back to the Digital World after the dimension I was trapped in shattered," WarStardramon reminded him. "And then you handed me the Fusion Loader, which helped me Digivolve. The only reason why we're even on this current journey is because you helped me complete my mission from Godramon: to Digivolve past my Ultimate level. If we somehow met up with Godramon, he's going to want to thank you somehow; he never leaves a debt unpaid."

"Oh, come on. I didn't do anything to make him in debt to me," Omnimon said, slightly amused. "I can't think of any reason why the Absolute Emperor would owe a debt to me." The two of them where silent for a moment, and then Omnimon spoke up again. "You said that Equistedramon was at the Temple of Light, right? Just exactly how far is the Temple of Light from here?"

"Well, I said a moment ago that my aura capabilities have grown since I Digivolved, and that should also means that my range in sensing aura has increased, as well," WarStardramon informed Omnimon. "It took me longer than I would have thought, since my range has increased, but I managed to pick up on Equistedramon's aura, which is indeed radiating from the Temple of Light with the three other auras I sensed. It's roughly around one thousand miles from here."

"One thousand miles?!" Omnimon repeated, startled. OmniShoutmon grunted in his sleep, then continued to snore. "How do you expect us to get there anytime tomorrow?" Omnimon questioned, lowering his voice. "Even at our full speed, OmniShoutmon and I would take at least two days to traverse that distance."

"Oh, I don't think so," WarStardramon stated, an unreadable expression crossing his face. "Depending on when we get up tomorrow morning, we could be there... oh, I say sometime around noon."

"Once again, how do you expect any of us to do that?" Omnimon inquired.

"I forgot- none of you have seen what I can do in my ShootingStardramon form, have you?" WarStardramon noted. "Let's just say that you won't believe the speed that I can travel at in that form. ShootingStardramon are also known as the Accel Synchro Dragon Digimon, because of our speeds and how the emotions we feel affect our power. If our emotions "sync" with our strongest desire, that's when we exhibit our true powers."

Once again, a peaceful silence grew between the two of them. "There's a few more things that I think I should explain to you, Omnimon," WarStardramon announced. "First of all, back in the Human World, DarkEquistedramon mistaken me for Equistedramon. He said it was because I looked like Equistedramon did a long time ago, and that my scent was virtually the same as his. The scent part is easy to explain: Equistedramon and I were practically living the same life at the home of Godramon; we did everything together and at the same time. Even after Equistedramon left for the DragonForce Army's creation, and then after losing his memories, he still led the same kind of lifestyle. I guess that must have been reflexive memory or habits he built up before losing his memories. But the explanation of why he and I look so very much alike as humans is a difficult concept to believe."

"Equistedramon is my older twin brother."

ΩΩΩ

"When Equistedramon and I were first born in the Human World, Equistedramon was born ten minutes before I was," WarStardramon continued to tell a shocked Omnimon. "The only reason why neither of us were ready to throw in the towel of life sooner was because of each other; we supported each other throughout our human lives. But then our parents got divorced when we were eleven years of age, and my father took me away with him while Equistedramon stayed with our mother. But getting divorced didn't improve the moods of either parent, and without each other, even after we reached the age that we would be considered as adults in the Human World in our own right, the age of eighteen, we just couldn't take it anymore. That's when Godramon showed himself to the three of us that make up the Dragon's Power head forces and took us to the Digital World. We remained human only a few seconds after we arrived here, but Equistedramon and I got a good enough look at each other before we transformed into Digimon to recognize one another. We were together, and unreachable from our parents' anger and frustration. We couldn't have been happier to spend our whole lives like that… but that peace was shattered when Antidramon reared his ugly head."

"So that's why you're fighting so hard against Antidramon," Omnimon noted in the following silence. "You want things to return to the way they were before Antidramon decided to put his plans into motion."

WarStardramon nodded. "That's right. I want to make up for the last five years that I missed in the span of an hour. To be quite honest, it feels like I've been pulled out of the past and blown into the future, now that I've regained my memories."

 _This also explains why WarStardramon was able to get inside Dragonspiral Mountain without the security recognition program._ Omnimon suddenly realized. _Since he's Equistedramon's twin, his digital make-up must be similar enough for the scanner at the mountain to mistake him for Equistedramon._

"Hey," Omnimon voiced out loud, "since you and Equistedramon are twins, then how come you two aren't the same Digimon?"

WarStardramon shook his head. "The two of us were both confused about that at first, too, but it doesn't work like that. Godramon told us that whatever Dragon Digimon we transformed into depended on what was in our hearts at the moment of transformation. Equistedramon wanted enough power to protect what he cared for and end the existence of those who harmed what he cared for, and I wanted to find my own strength and become stronger with different possibilities. Thus, Equistedramon became Equistedramon, with amazing power levels and unmatched strength, and I became Stardramon, with the power of multiple different evolutionary stages and abilities. Godramon's Digimon Transformation ability only allows humans to transform into Dragon Digimon, and he was quite surprised on the forms the three of us had taken, since we were the first of our kind."

Another silence grew between the two armored Digimon. "I'm still a little confused about what you had said about Gallantmon right before we left yesterday afternoon," Omnimon brought up. "Why do we need to keep an eye on him? We can all trust him- he's been with the Royal Knights for a very long time, and I don't think it's fair to judge him like that just because he's a Virus Digimon."

WarStardramon sighed. Last afternoon, just before he, Omnimon, and OmniShoutmon left Dragonspiral Mountain, he had given the gathered Royal Knights and other Digimon that had come to see them off some last instructions.

"Listen to me," WarStardramon had called after he and the other two took to the air. He looked down on the others, hovering about twenty feet above them. "Just as a precaution, everyone needs to keep an eye on Gallantmon."

"Huh?" several of the Digimon had responded.

Gallantmon glared up at WarStardramon. "Is it just because of the fact that I'm a Virus Digimon? How could you judge me like that, too?!"

WarStardramon shook it head. "I promise, it's not about that." He pointed at the Digital Hazard symbol on Gallantmon's chest. It was a black triangle with the point at the top, and connected to each three points was the tip of another, smaller triangle. A small, black ring surrounded the larger triangle and parts of the other ones. "It's _that_ that we need to be watchful of. It's a well-known fact that if a Gallantmon loses his balance, then the Digital Hazard will activate, and a huge, destructive power will be released. However, our Gallantmon isn't the typical Gallantmon. If his Digital Hazard is activated, there's no telling what would happen. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Antidramon is going to target you to get that power for himself. I'm telling all of you to keep an eye on Gallantmon not to see if he does anything wrong, but to help protect him from Antidramon's forces, if he really does end up targeting him."

"It is as I said yesterday," WarStardramon told Omnimon as the memories faded away. "If a Gallantmon with the skills of a Royal Knight loses his balance, the destructive power that would be released from the Digital Hazard on his chest would be unimaginable. We would more than likely end up in a ton of trouble if that happens to us; the power our Gallantmon would release would be almost, if not completely, uncontrollable and too much for us to handle. It wasn't my intent to offend Gallantmon or anyone else- we just cannot risk the possibility."

After another few minutes of silence, Omnimon finally stood up. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep, WarStardramon," he announced. "You should probably retire for the night as well; it sounds like you're going to be using a decent amount of power tomorrow morning."

"Thanks for the advice," WarStardramon called as Omnimon disappeared in the night-time darkness. A few seconds later he heard the sound of Omnimon's armor clanking as he laid down in a large grassy spot by the river. "I'll get some sleep after the fire dies down."

He heard Omnimon grunt in response, then there was silence, other than OmniShoutmon's snoring, his legs still hanging over the log he had sat on to eat his meal before falling asleep. WarStardramon continued to stare into the flames of the fire until the last ember died out, leaving him in utter darkness.

ΩΩΩ

The sun was high in the sky when Omnimon finally came around. When he saw how late in the day it was, he jumped to his feet, frantically looking around for the others.

"So you're finally up, huh, Omnimon?" WarStardramon called from the fire pit, where a large fire was burning. A few fish and Meat Apples spiked on sticks were roasting around the fire, and a huge, blue and grey fish was slowly rotating over the fire on a makeshift spit that WarStardramon had apparently crafted which he himself was spinning. A rough bowl made out of a hollowed stone sat under the fish in the fire, gathering the juice as it dripped from the fish. "It's about time one of you woke up. It's a little earlier than ten o'clock in the morning."

"How come you didn't wake one of us up?!" Omnimon demanded angrily, marching over to the fire. OmniShoutmon was still dead to the world in the same position he was in last night, his legs hanging over the log he had sat on. "We need to leave as soon as possible for the Temple of Light!"

"Relax," WarStardramon replied soothingly as OmniShoutmon groaned and opened his eyes. "What's with all the noise?" He grumbled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Can't anyone get some decent sleep here?"

"Oh, we got some decent sleep, alright," Omnimon growled, extremely irritated. "The two of us have been asleep for almost half a day, and WarStardramon didn't wake us up so we get ready and head out to the Temple of Light! We could have already covered a considerable distance by now if we had been awakened at an appropriate time!"

"Omnimon, calm down!" WarStardramon told him, looking a little harassed. "I've already been to the Temple of Light after I woke up and you two were still asleep."

There was a moment of shocked silence. "WHAT?!" both Omnimon and OmniShoutmon screeched at the same time.

"Oww!" WarStardramon moaned, covering his ears. "What was that for? Are you two trying to break my eardrums?"

"How could you have gone to the Temple of Light and back already this morning?!" Omnimon questioned. "You told me last night that it was about a thousand miles from here!"

"And I also told you last night that nobody has seen my capabilities as ShootingStardramon," WarStardramon reminded him, slowly uncovering his ears. "My speed in that form is unmatched by anything alive. I was only gone for two hours, and all I did was leave a message for Lord Seraphimon and Godramon of our arrival today. Oh, and by the way, the fish on the spit is mine; the two of you can work it out with the other fish and Meat Apples."

Omnimon and OmniShoutmon continued to stare at WarStardramon in disbelief and shock as he pulled the large fish away from the flames' heat and took the stone bowl of fish broth out of the fire. Using the stick the fish was on to hold it, he began to devour his meal as Omnimon and OmniShoutmon worked out the proportions they would get of the other fish and Meat Apples. By the time that they had started on their own meals, the fish WarStardramon had cooked was picked clean to the bone and thrown into the river, and he had drained the bowl of broth. Letting out a sigh of contentment, WarStardramon stood up and walked over to the river to wash off in the pool at the bottom of the falls.

"Hey, you two," he shouted over the roar of the waterfall. "If I don't come up for a while, don't worry about me! I'm just going to do some meditating for a few minutes!"

"He's going to meditate _underwater_?" OmniShoutmon spoke around a mouthful of the Meat Apple he was eating as WarStardramon's head disappeared under the surface of the water. "I hope he doesn't drown."

"Don't try talking with food in your mouth," Omnimon sighed. "We can't risk having you choke on your food and die on us now."

"What's your problem?" Omnimon inquired, picking up on Omnimon's moody tone.

"I'm just trying to wrap my head around the enigma that we know as WarStardramon," Omnimon responded tiredly. "One second he's completely serious, and then the next he's too relaxed for comfort. He's just as unusual as Equistedramon; I'm not surprised that those two are actually twins."

"Wait, what was that?" OmniShoutmon yelped, choking on his food in the process. Omnimon slapped him hard in the back, and the half-chewed Meat Apple continued on its way down his throat. "What did I just tell you about talking with food in your mouth?" Omnimon interrogated darkly.

"My bad- you were right, Omnimon," OmniShoutmon wheezed, bent over on himself. He eventually sat up straight again. "What's this about Equistedramon and WarStardramon being twins?'

"I'd forgotten- you were out cold last night when WarStardramon and I were talking, weren't you?" And so Omnimon began to fill OmniShoutmon in on the conversations that had transpired the night before, the new information startling to his listener. As he wrapped up on informing OmniShoutmon everything he learned last night, they heard a splash, and they turned to see that WarStardramon had emerged from the depths of the rapids.

"The two of you better get ready to leave shortly," WarStardramon told the two Digimon as he approached them, dripping wet. "As soon as I dry off, I'm changing into ShootingStardramon, and then I'll carry you to the Temple of Light."

"Okay, but before that, can you tell us what you were doing down there underwater?" OmniShoutmon queried.

"I was trying to get a better sense on Equistedramon's aura, as well as the other three auras that I sensed nearby his," WarStardramon explained. "I can concentrate much better when it's quiet around me, and sitting next to a waterfall doesn't exactly help me concentrate, so I searched them out underwater. It's so peaceful down there," he added lightly.

"But how did you hold your breath that long?" Omnimon asked.

"Simple: I surrounded myself in a bubble of aura before submerging," WarStardramon answered, surprised by the question. "I can contain just about anything with aura- it's not that hard to create an air bubble."

"Questions aside, let's clean up camp," Omnimon declared, rising to his feet. "After that attack on WarStardramon yesterday afternoon with the Megidramon and Megadramon, I think it would be best if we cleaned up any evidence of anyone camping here; we don't know if we're being watched."

"Good idea," OmniShoutmon agreed, rising to his own feet. "Let's get to work."

Omnimon took care of cleaning up the fire pit and dispersing the rocks use to create the ring while OmniShoutmon cleaned up any trash or other unnatural items in the vicinity. WarStardramon, in the meantime, had dried off and changed back into ShootingStardramon. Flapping is wings, he kicked up dust and loose earth and blew it all over the general area, and once everything had settled, a fine, even layer of dirt covered the ground, destroying any traces of their footprints.

ShootingStardramon held all three of their knapsacks while he directed Omnimon and OmniShoutmon to get a tight hold on the two black spikes that sprouted from the back of his wings. "The speed that we'll be traveling at is usually dangerous for anyone other than the being actually traveling at that rate to be in," ShootingStardramon informed them once they had grabbed hold of the spikes, "but I can use some aura to surround us with a bubble to keep the wind back. If I didn't, the two of you would be blown off my back before I could even reach top speed."

"Will you be able to support our weight for the whole journey?" Omnimon questioned worriedly. "We might have to stop once or twice if you can't hold us up."

ShootingStardramon snorted. "Trust me, I won't feel a thing." He stood up, with Omnimon and OmniShoutmon hanging from his back, and, without warning, jumped up into the air.

"Are you guys ready?" ShootingStardramon asked once he had leveled off a few hundred feet above the ground. "Let's go!"

Several rings of green light suddenly came into existence in front of ShootingStardramon, each with short green dashes on the inside of the rings going inwards, similar to certain gauges you would see in the cockpit of an airplane. ShootingStardramon flew through each once, speeding us with every passing second. Red light began to gather directly in front of his nose and fly down the sides of his body like a sonic boom. As he passed through the last ring, there was a bright flash of light-green light, and all that remained where the three Digimon had been a moment ago was a few sparkles of bright light that quickly faded away.

ΩΩΩ

Roughly an hour later, shortly before noon, another bright flash of green light appeared about a thousand miles from the first one, and a being entered the skies above the Temple of Light, unidentifiable due to the dramatic speeds at which it traveled. But once it had slowed down enough for the watcher of the temple to see that it was a dragon, there was another flash of light, this one a bright, golden color. When the light faded, three large Digimon flew down from where the golden light had flashed, and WarStardramon, Omnimon, and OmniShoutmon landed on the ground in front of the entrance of the Temple of Light, each with their knapsack slung over their shoulders.

WarStardramon turned around to look at his friends and held his arms out wide in welcome. "This is it; we're at our destination. I welcome the two of you to the Temple of Light!"

Omnimon and OmniShoutmon looked around at their surroundings. The sky was completely covered with dark clouds, and the occasional rumble of thunder could be heard as the clouds occasionally lit up with lightning. They were standing at the edge of a clearing in the middle of a deeply wooded forest, and in the center of the clearing was a sizable hill with stairs leading to the top on four sides. At the top of the hill was a plain, stone structure like that of the sides of a cube; no walls of ceiling, just the corners. The stones that made up the structure, however, appeared to give off a pure, golden light, exactly the same light that Equistedramon emitted whenever he used his _Dragon's Clockwork_ attack. The light seemed to shine straight up to the sky and disappeared through a small gap in the clouds right above the temple.

"WarStardramon, you've returned, sir!" A voice called out above them. The three of them looked up to see an Angemon diving to the ground to meet them. Angemon was an Angel Digimon with six white, feathery wings, and he wore white pants with yellow wing designs on it. The top of his head and eyes were covered with a bronze helmet with brass studs placed symmetrically around it with long, flowing orange hair streaming out from underneath the helmet. His white body was well muscled, and dotting his torso were several metal objects. On his left shoulder was a yellow metal sun pattern, and wrapped around his gloved hand and arm was a ragged blue strip of cloth with black Digicode written on it, which continued to travel down the back of his body and wrap around his right leg. He head a golden staff in his right hand, and hanging from his waist, held in place by a brown belt, was another ragged blue cloth with the same Digicode symbols as the wrap on it.

"Hey, Angemon!" WarStardramon responded, lifting up a hand in greeting. "Were you able to give the message I gave you earlier this morning to Lady Ophanimon, Lord Seraphimon, and Godramon?"

"Of course I was, sir," Angemon answered as he landed on the ground in front of WarStardramon and instantly bowed. "The news of your return alone, without the need for an informational meeting between all of you, is good enough news for everyone to gather. Until this morning, it had been five years since we've heard anything from you."

"Come on, get to your feet," WarStardramon groaned. "I've told you time and time again not to bow to me; it makes me very uncomfortable. I just want everyone to treat me like a regular Digimon."

"My apologies, sir," Angemon stated as he rose to his feet.

"Enough of that 'sir' stuff, too," WarStardramon growled. "I can't handle the formalities of being so high in the authoritative positions of the Digital World; sometimes makes it too easy to tread on a Digimon's respect and feelings without knowing it because of improper formality. I just want everyone to be at ease and causal around me."

"Yes, si- I mean, okay, WarStardramon," Angemon stammered, showing a rueful smile.

"That's more like it," WarStardramon said, placing a hand on Angemon's shoulder. "Other than to inform Godramon and the others about what I've gone through, the three of us are also here because I sensed Equistedramon's and three others' aura here, and something wasn't right about them. I presume that the owners of the four auras are inside?"

"Yes, WarStardramon," Angemon nodded as he began to lead the other Digimon up to the temple. "They'll be at the meeting hall where you'll meet up with Lord Seraphimon, Lady Ophanimon, and Godramon. You'll more than likely be able to save some time if all of your major issues are gathered in one place. I hope you don't mind me in taking liberty into that."


End file.
